All We'd Ever Need
by TStabler
Summary: A night of primal, anamalistic need, desire, and passion, forces them to confront what's been dormant for years. Problem? He's married. She's engaged. Their lives are about to crumble, but as long as they have each other, they'll survive. E/O
1. Prologue

**A/N: Me again, with my overactive imagination. This is just the prologue, so it's rather short, but I hope you'll all want to read more. It's going to be an interesting story. **

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue and plot of this story**

Olivia sat on the wooden bench, next to Casey, as Trevor cross-examined Elliot. Her eyes focused on him and her mind wandered to the way his hands felt on her hot skin, the way his lips felt pressed against hers, the way three little words, so long unspoken, had made her rethink her past, present and future. She thought back to how he made her promise that it wouldn't break them, that it wouldn't destroy them. She promised him it wouldn't. It didn't. But, their first night together had destroyed something _else_, and now she was sitting in a courtroom thinking about how their lives were about to fall apart.

"You're constantly getting in trouble for being too violent, are you not? You're nothing but a hot-headed, arrogant cop, Detective Stabler," Trevor spat.

Olivia heard Trevor berating Elliot, snapping her back to reality, and she grew nauseous. She was trying to listen to her partner's witty retort, but her eyes drifted from his sapphire blue orbs, to Trevor's scowling face, down to the sparkling diamond on her finger, then back up to Elliot's sanctuary eyes. The nausea intensified. She heard a few more words escape Elliot's lips, then she got up and bolted from the courtroom.

Casey, shocked and worried, followed her.

"Benson," she called down the hall after Olivia. "Hey, Benson!" She ran to catch up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "What happened? Are you okay? It's not like you to leave in the middle of..."

Olivia was heaving. Almost hyperventilating. "I can't be in the same room with him, Casey. Not when he's being...I just can't."

Casey furrowed her brow. "I know Trevor's a sleazebag in the courtroom but, Olivia, he's a really nice guy, right? That's why you're marrying him. Alex is about to start her..."

"Casey, I slept with him!" Olivia yelled, her left hand over her chest. She didn't hear anything of what Casey had just said. She was having a panic attack.

Casey chuckled. "Finally! I'd sleep with him, too, if he gave me a rock that size. Look, we have to go back in there, and you have to get over the fact that he's being an ass to Elliot. He's just doing his job. You'll have to deal with this for the rest of your life. Come on before Elliot..."

Olivia shook her head. "Elliot," she said, closing her eyes. "Oh, God, Elliot," she whispered.

Casey nodded. "Yeah, Benson. You're partner. He needs your support in there he..."

"No, you don't get it, Casey!" Olivia looked up at her friend, shook her head and sighed. "I slept with Elliot!"

**A/N: Oh, are you confused? You want me to clear things up for ya? Review! This one's gonna be good, I have BIG plans. **


	2. Ultimatum

**A/N: Some people are willing to go to great lengths for their friends. **

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue and plot of this story**

"What happened? I want the whole story, Olivia, and I don't care how long it takes," Casey said, drinking her Long Island Iced Tea. She had dragged Olivia down the street to a bar as soon as the confession flew out of her mouth.

Olivia sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "We were at work, we got tired, went up to the cribs. We started talking, then kissing. Case, it just...happened. You know how I felt...feel about him. I only said 'yes' to Trevor because Elliot just wasn't a possibility and I needed to move on before I went crazy, and now..."

Casey interrupted her. "You're not really gonna marry him, are you? Are you gonna tell him about this?"

"Fuck, Casey, I don't know! Elliot was gone when I woke up, he left a note. He's married, Casey! I'm not going to give up my life to be his affair!" Olivia threw her scotch on the rocks back in one swig and slammed the glass down.

Casey sighed, signaled the bartender for more drinks, and said, "He and his wife are always having problems, and..."

"I know, Casey, but they're not fucking getting a divorce anytime soon, are they? God, I don't even know how I got into this situation." Olivia dropped her head onto Casey's shoulder.

"You haven't slept with Trevor, and you're in love with Elliot, that's how. He was there, he was close, you wanted him, and you were sexually starved," Casey offered. "Besides, I bet fifty bucks I can prove that Trevor's about as faithful as Bill Clinton."

Olivia huffed. "Oh, please, Casey. Trevor's the one who wanted to wait until marriage, not me! Don't blame my lack of sex for what happened, because Elliot was there, too and..."

"And he's not sleeping with Kathy, either," Casey spat, interrupting again. "You two have been fighting this attraction since you met, and he realized, when you showed up to work with that rock on your finger, that he was a step away from losing you, Olivia. Maybe he's finally got the balls to leave Kathy and sweep you off of your feet!"

"Yeah," Olivia said, "And maybe I'm next in line for the British throne." She took the new glass from the bartender gratefully and chugged half of it back.

"Were you drunk?" Casey asked, trying to give her another reason.

Olivia shook her head. "Stone cold sober, and it was the single most romantic, erotic and emotionally and sexually satisfying experience of my life," she said, swigging off her second drink. "I'm screwed, Case. I can't marry Trevor. I guess, part of me always knew I'd never be able to go through with it, but..." she stopped when her cell phone bleeped. She looked down at the glowing screen. It was a text message. From Elliot.

_Where R U?_

Olivia sighed, then replied, _Bar_. As she hit the send button, she felt the butterflies in her stomach that she usually got when she spoke to him, only they were intensified tenfold and combined with a deep, nauseating feeling.

"Elliot?" Casey asked. "You look like you're about to throw up, but you're happy about it."

Olivia laughed. "Yeah, it was El. Casey, what am I gonna do about this?"

"I think you need to talk to Elliot," Casey said with a swig of her drink. "Be your usual bad-ass self, tell him what you want, and if he can't give it to you, then tell him you're marrying Trevor, requesting a new partner, and cutting all ties with him."

Olivia's eyes widened and her heart stopped at the very thought of all of that. "I would never..."

"I know," she interjected, "But, the threat alone will scare the shit out of him." Casey smirked, drinking her drink, and winked at her friend.

Olivia's phone buzzed again. Another text from Elliot.

_Can U B more specific? _

Olivia laughed, typed her answer and sent it off. "He's acting like nothing's changed. He's being so...normal."

"Olivia, it's easy to be normal via text message," Casey said. "He's probably just as confused and scared as you are. Even more so, because he cheated on his wife. You just cheated on your fiancée, who you weren't even sure you wanted to marry in the first place. He's in deeper shit than you are."

Olivia chugged back drink number three, looked at Casey and nodded. "I guess," she said.

"Was he really that good?" Casey questioned.

Olivia's eyes rolled back and the smirk on her face grew. "Oh, my God, Casey. Four hours and seven orgasms and he still wanted more. We both did, but he had court in the morning."

"Damn," Casey said with a chuckle. "Well, you're sex-god just walked in, so I'm gonna go, and let you two talk this out. Call me if this blows up in your face."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Olivia said with a sarcastic laugh.

Casey smirked. "Olivia, you two have always only needed each other. You'll get through this." She slapped a fifty-dollar bill on the bar, saying, "And sweetie, you love him. I wish you wouldn't feel so guilty about it." She patted Olivia on the shoulder and breezed past Elliot, out of the bar.

Elliot took Casey's abandoned stool and awkwardly mumbled a hello to Olivia. He took a breath after hearing how pathetic he sounded and looked at her. "Liv, please..." he stopped, not quite sure which favor to ask of her first.

"Please, what, El?" Olivia asked, trying to push down her rising desire to kiss him.

Elliot slowly reached for her hand, and she let him take it. He held her hand up to her, her ring sparkling in the light. "Don't marry him. Don't. And...don't run away from me. Please, don't hate me for last night, for not being there when you woke up. Please, don't think what we did was a mistake, because I don't. I know what we did, and I know what it's gonna cost us, but it was not a mistake, Liv. And I do not regret it, not for a single second."

Olivia stared at him, unblinking. "That's a lot to ask, El."

Elliot squeezed her hand in his, hating the feel of the ring under his fingers and asked, "How much of it is actually possible, Liv?"

"It's all possible, it's just a lot to ask," she said, squeezing his hand back. She leaned her head against his and whispered, "What the hell did we do last night?"

Elliot shook his head. "I don't know, Liv. But, I want to do it again. And again. Every night, for the rest of my life, and I can't just sit back and watch you stay with Trevor when I know you belong with me. You need to be with me."

"You know what you have to do, then, don't you?" Olivia asked, pulling away from him. "El, I do love you, and it's killing me to do this, but, I can't be the other woman. You're married. I'm not going to...he loves me, El. Enough to marry me. I don't know why, but he does, and I'm not going to give up my chance at a family, with a great guy, to be..."

"Liv," Elliot barked, cutting her off. "First of all, he loves you for the same reasons I do, but I have a million more on top of them. I'm going to leave her, Liv, it's just hard. We've been married for so long, and explaining it to the kids will be hard. I know we're holding to onto something that's been gone for years, and..."

"El," Olivia said, taking a deep breath. "I'm not going to put my life on hold because you're telling me that you _might_ be leaving her, and it's _possible_, and you're _trying_. I want to be with you, El, I do. I shouldn't, but I do. When you actually leave, and get that divorce, I will drop everything to be with you. It just wouldn't be fair to us, or to Trevor and Kathy if we..."

"Kathy?" Elliot scoffed. "Jesus, Liv, I don't love her. You gotta know that. I shut her out completely. I don't go home anymore. And when I do, we fight constantly. But if I'm the one that leaves, she'll keep me from my kids," he explained. "I don't know why she won't just walk away." He looked over and met Olivia's eyes.

Olivia nodded in understanding. "El," she whispered. "I don't want to do this, it'll break my heart, but if you don't leave her...if for some reason you can't do it, then I'm marrying him. I'm marrying Trevor and requesting a transfer at work and you're gonna lose me, completely, because now that I know how you feel, now that it's not just a fantasy anymore, I can't even be in the same room with you without wanting to kiss you, hold you, tell you that I love you and...damn it, El, I need you so much it hurts."

"Shit, Liv, I know exactly how you feel," he said to her. "I promise, Liv, I'm leaving her. Emotionally, I've been gone for years. Please, don't say that you're leaving me like that, baby, because _you_ are all that I will ever need. I can't live without you, I know it, and you know it." His grip on her hand had tightened; his knuckles were turning white. He looked up at her with tears threatening to build up in his beautiful blue eyes, and the love and devotion was clearly shining through his cerulean orbs.

"El," Olivia said, softly. "I can't live without you, either. You know damn well I could never give you up like that. I'd die."

Elliot's eyes widened and he laugehd a bit. "But, you just said..."

"I know what I said, El. Casey's an idiot." Olivia chuckled when she saw the confused look on Elliot's face. "Don't ask." She ran her fingers over his hand and looked deeply into his eyes. He had a power over her that she couldn't resist. "El? Take me back, to where we were last night."

Elliot smiled at her, his eyes glinting. "What about Trevor?" he asked, not really caring.

"I'll tell him I'm still at work. I won't really be lying," she said. She threw down two twenty-dollar-bills and walked, still clutching Elliot's hand, toward the front of the bar. They stopped when they saw Trevor.

Olivia immediately let go of Elliot's hand. "Hey," she said, trying to sound cheerful. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Trevor said, kissing her on the cheek. "McCoy was here. He saw you, so he called me. I wanted to surprise you, but I guess I'm late." He looked over at Elliot. "Hello, Stabler. Look, about what happened in court..."

"You were just doing your job," Elliot said. "You lost, anyway."

Trevor narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, I did," he said. "So, Livvy, when we get home..."

"Actually," Elliot interrupted, "We have to go back to the station. We just got a break in a case."

"Oh," Trevor said. He straightened his tie and cleared his throat. He looked back at Olivia and smiled as he said, "Well, I won't wait up for you then."

Olivia tilted her head and smirked. "Hey, Trevor," she said. "McCoy didn't tell you I was here, Casey did. Didn't she?"

Trevor's eyes widened. "Uh, why would, uh, how did you know that?"

"Well, she was here with me, too, and she was wearing this amazing shade of red lipstick," Olivia said, folding her arms. "It's all over the left side of your collar."

**A/N: Oh, boy! How will Trevor explain that one? Will Olivia walk away from him? What about Elliot and Kathy?**


	3. Endings

**A/N: Some questions are better left unanswered. **

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue and plot of this story**

Trevor looked at Olivia, who wore an expression of hurt, confusion, and...was that relief? "Livvy, baby, she came on to me! I swear, I didn't encourage her, at all! I just stood there and let her have her fun. You know you're my girl," he said, reaching out a hand.

Before she could respond, Olivia's phone bleeped. She looked down, and saw the caller ID blink. It was a text from Casey. She clicked it open and shook her head in disbelief, biting her lip. She looked back up at Trevor.

"Wow, I'm not gonna get mad. I have no right to get mad," she said, blankly. "Ya know, actually, you've just made my life a little less complicated," she said, sliding the ring off of her finger. She placed it in his palm and closed his fingers around it. "I've been trying, very hard, to find a way to do this without breaking your heart. You and I should have never been together. You are...not what I need. Thank you, Trevor, really, for making me realize that I was going to make a bigger mistake than the one I already made. Your stuff will be waiting for you in the hall." She took two steps before he stopped her.

"Livvy, baby! Don't...don't do this," he pleaded.

Olivia laughed as she wiped the tear from her cheek. She really wasn't sure why she was crying. Maybe part of her really did love him. "It's done, Trevor. And, by the way, I hate it when you call me 'Livvy,' it makes me feel like a child." She walked toward the door, when another voice called out to her.

"Liv," Elliot yelled. "It wasn't a mis..."

"Go home, Elliot. Just...go home to your wife," she said, dropping her head and shaking it. She walked out of the bar and into the New York City afternoon.

* * *

"How much shit could he have possibly brought over here without you noticing?" Alex asked, shoveling a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.

Olivia raised her eyebrows and gestured to the three large black garbage bags by the door. "Um, hello," she said. She threw a pile of pictures into the top of one of the bags. "What a waste of a year."

"Oh, here, don't forget this," Alex muttered tossing a grey hoodie into the bag like a basketball.

"No!" Olivia yelled. "That's, uh, that's not Trevor's," she said, pulling the hoodie on over her head.

Alex shrugged. "Sorry," she said. "And you! You made out with her fiancée! She is your best friend, you ho!"

Casey scooped ice cream into her mouth and mumbled, "I did her a favor! He's a lousy cheat, has been since the day they met!"

"I cheated on him, too, Casey," Olivia reminded. "He just kissed you, I fucked my partner nine ways from Sunday!"

Casey chuckled. "Oh, honey. He's been around the cell block a few times. I only made out with him to prove it to you. I knew you'd see the lipstick on his collar," she said, giggling.

Alex furrowed her brow. "But, I thought..."

"He loved Olivia, so he was waiting, with her, to make their wedding night special. Doesn't mean he didn't sleep with everything that moved while he was waiting," Casey explained, eating her ice cream.

"Holy shit," Olivia uttered, plopping into the couch and stealing Alex's ice-cream-filled spoon.

"Hey!" Alex yelled as she laughed.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "I just lost my only chance at a normal life. You're just losing your ice cream," she exclaimed, shoving the spoon into her mouth.

The girls laughed when they heard a knock at the door.

Olivia groaned. "Probably Trevor," she said, getting off the couch. She opened the door and threw the first two bags out into the hall. "There's one more but you'll...oh," she said, finally looking up. "Hi."

"Hey. Is that my sweatshirt?" Elliot asked, pointing to the hoodie.

"Uh, yeah," Olivia said, brushing the hair out of her eyes.

Elliot shifted his weight and put his hands in his pocket. "Can we talk?"

Olivia looked back at the girls on the couch, then to Elliot. "No, Not right..."

"Oh, wow! Look at the time," Alex said, getting up and putting on her jacket.

Casey followed suit, saying, "Oh, man, it's late. We have a big...lawyer...thing...in the morning. We're gonna go, Benson."

Olivia shook her head and rolled her eyes, chuckling lightly as Alex and Casey practically flew out of the apartment. "Thanks guys," Olivia said, "I knew I could count on you."

"Hey!" Casey called as she walked down the hall, "I have to live with the fact that my tongue was in Langan's mouth, and I did it all for you, Benson! You can always count on us!"

Olivia chuckled and waved as her friends faded from view. She turned to Elliot. "I guess we can talk after all," she said as she moved aside to allow him entrance to her place. She closed the door behind her and fidgeted as she watched him sit on the couch.

Elliot ran his hands through his hair. "Liv, I never meant for..."

"I know," Olivia said. "Apparently, he wasn't as faithful as I thought he was. I was so consumed by guilt, thinking that I hurt him, and I found out he's been sleeping with half of girls in the D.A's office."

Elliot looked at her, his eyes soft, with a small smile. "I'm sorry."

"No, you're not," she said with a smirk, sitting next to him.

"You're right, I'm not," he admitted. "I'm relieved. I'm actually fucking relieved that he's an asshole, and I'm actually happy that he betrayed you. Does that make me a horrible person?"

"No, it just makes you selfish," Olivia said. "You want me. And you can't have me, but you don't want anyone else to have me either. It's been this way with you for five years, El."

Elliot's eyes dropped closed and he sighed. "I know, and It's not fair, to anyone. That's why I'm telling Kathy I want a divorce. Tonight."

"What?" Olivia said, her eyes widening.

"That's what I came over here to tell you," Elliot said, taking her hand. He rubbed it between his, gently, and said, "Liv, when you told me that I was gonna lose you, I know you'd never go, but just thinking about it broke my heart. I'd rather take my chances with a custody battle, which I could actually win, than take my chances with the possibility of losing you forever." He looked deeply into her eyes. "I have never felt this way, about anyone, and keeping it bottled up for the last five years has only made it harder to stand being away from you. Even for a second."

Olivia blinked. "Jesus, El, we just...I don't even remember how it happened, and you...I shouldn't have told you I would leave. You don't have to leave your wife," she said, dropping her eyes. "El, you can't abandon your family just because we had sex." She waited a beat then added, "Five times."

"In one night, Liv," Elliot said, laughing. "What does that tell you? If it was a mistake, if we'd regretted it, we would have freaked the fuck out and stopped. Liv, we were trying to make up for all the time we've already lost. And I'm not leaving my family. I'm just leaving my wife. And not just for you, I'm leaving for me, too. For my sanity. I'll go crazy without you." He brushed Olivia's hair back and over closer to her, he brushed his nose against hers, and asked, "Can I kiss you, now?"

"I dunno," Olivia said, cupping his face gently. "Can you?" she asked, smirking.

Elliot chuckled. His hot breath, so close to her lips, drove her mad. "Brat," he whispered. "Okay, fucking grammar police, _may_ I kiss you?"

Olivia laughed, then she looked into his eyes. Her breath hitched as she was bombarded by the emotion she found in them. "Yes," she whispered. She smiled as his lips slanted over hers and his tongue ran across her lower lip. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

Elliot smoothed his hand over her back and pushed her down, flattening them out on the couch. His hand snaked up her sweatshirt, under her tee shirt and cupped her bra-covered breast. She moaned into his mouth and he smirked against her lips, tweaking and twisting a nipple.

The key slipped into the lock and turned. Olivia shoved Elliot off of her and just as the door opened, she had pulled down her shirts. "Olivia, I really...Stabler?"

"Hi, Langan," Elliot said.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Trevor asked.

"Uh, ice cream," he said, pointing to the empty bowls on the coffee table. "And I'm comforting my best friend. She needs me," he told him, patting Olivia on the knee.

Olivia suppressed the urge to laugh, and pointed to the remaining black bag. "That's all your stuff. There are two more bags in the hallway."

Trevor stepped toward her. "Livvy, please, can we just talk about this?"

"No, Trevor. There's nothing to talk about," Olivia said, running a hand through her hair. "I know about the other women. Casey told me. And I'm not that upset. I guess, I'm just not really in love with you."

"You know about the...did you tell him?" he asked, pointing to Elliot and suddenly turning pale.

Olivia nodded. "Elliot knows what you did, yeah. He's more mad at you than I am."

"That's, uh, understandable," Trevor said. He looked at Elliot and dropped his head. "In her defense, we were drunk. Really, really drunk. And you and Olivia had been called down to the station..."

"Wait," Elliot said, holding up a hand. "Back up, in whose defense? Who was drunk?"

Trevor looked at Elliot, then at Olivia. He ran a hand through his hair, scratching his scalp lightly. He sighed in a mix of embarrassment and defeat and said, "Kathy."

**A/N: What will Elliot say when he talks to Kathy? Will he tell her that he knows about Trevor? Will he let her explain? And who shows up at Olivia's in the middle of the night after it's over? It's not who you'd think! **


	4. Beginnings

**A/N: What does Elliot say to Kathy? Who shows up at Liv's door? **

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue and plot of this story**

He slammed the door closed, starling her in the kitchen. She dropped the pot and the rice went everywhere. "Goddamn it, Elliot! You scared the...well at least you came home tonight."

"When the hell did you sleep with Liv's fiancée?" Elliot asked, barging into the kitchen.

Kathy looked up from the floor, where she'd been scraping up rice. "I'm sorry, what did you just ask me?"

"You heard me," Elliot said, fuming.

Kathy rose to her feet and threw the fallen rice into the trashcan. "I did, and you're crazy! I wouldn't do that to you, or to her. Who the hell told you that?"

"Trevor did," Elliot said. "He told me it happened at One-P-P's New Year's Eve party, after Liv and I got called down to the doc...work."

Kathy sighed and closed her eyes as she gripped the kitchen counter. "Elliot, I wish you would, for once, talk to me about these cases of yours," she said softly. "And no, I did not sleep with Trevor. He lied to you."

"I don't think so, Kathy. I think you're lying to me." Elliot opened the fridge and pulled out a beer, popping it open and chugging half of it.

"How does it feel, Elliot?" Kathy asked, with a surprised smile. "To doubt? To never really know? Now, you know how I feel. How I have felt for five goddamn years. For the record, though, I'm not lying. As much as I despise her for what she's done to me, to us, I would never hurt her like that. She's been there for the kids, and you, always. More than I was, sometimes."

"Shit," Elliot said, realizing. "That snake. He wanted me to...oh, damn! Liv!" He pulled out his cell and dialed, but the call went right to voicemail. "I have to go," he said, slamming down his beer.

"Elliot, she's getting married! Damn it, just let her go!" Kathy yelled.

Her voice stopped him, he turned, remembering why he came home in the first place. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, picking up his beer again. "She's not getting married, Kathy. He's been cheating on her for as long as they've been together. And she's...not in love with him," he said, chugging back the rest of his beer.

"I know," Kathy said with a laugh. She folded her arms and leaned against the counter. "She's in love with you. I just figured that since she was marrying Trevor, she finally got over you and we could all move on with our lives."

Elliot scoffed. "Nice, Kathy. Look, what are we doing?"

"Standing in the kitchen, talking about your partner's five-hundredth failed relationship," Kathy said, snidely.

"Damn, Kathy, have a little sympathy! She just found out her entire relationship with Trevor was fucking meaningless!" Elliot didn't mean to yell, but he found that when it came to Olivia, he was always defensive.

Kathy chuckled, "Oh that's rich. It was only meaningless because she wants the one person she can't have, Elliot. Or, has she already had him?"

"Don't go there, Kathy," Elliot warned. "This is exactly what I meant. What the hell are we doing, staying together? Are you happy?"

"I was, up until, oh, I'd say, five years ago," Kathy spat.

"Stop blaming Olivia," Elliot said through gritted teeth. "This has nothing to do with her! We've been fighting like this since the twins were born! If you haven't noticed, they're twelve! That's seven years, before Liv and I even met, that we've been completely incapable of getting along! You're stubborn, and you're so self-righteous..."

Kathy ran her hands through her hair, again, and spat back, "We could have gotten passed it all, if it hadn't been for her! Why is she so close, huh? She's your partner, yes. I could have dealt with that. When she became your friend, I accepted it. But then, you didn't have to invite her over here for dinner every night, you didn't have to make her a part of the fucking family, you didn't have to get the kids so attached to her, you didn't have to fall in love with..."

"Woah, what?" Elliot interrupted. "Why are you still talking about Olivia?"

Kathy sighed. "Damn, Elliot, I'm not blind. You're in love with her, aren't you? I can see it in the way you..."

"Oh, fuck it, Kathy! Yeah, okay? You win! You're right! That's exactly right! Happy?" Elliot asked, yelling.

"Yes," Kathy said. "But are you admitting it because it's true or are you admitting it because you're such a fucking hot-head that you'd say anything to piss me off and shut me up?"

Elliot looked her in the eyes. He gripped her wrist and through a clenched jaw, he shouted. "If I wanted to piss you off and shut you up I'd tell you I want a divorce!"

Soft footsteps and even softer tears went unnoticed. The child slipped out of the house, as Elliot and Kathy continued their horrendously loud yelling.

* * *

Olivia, asleep on her couch, was awakened by a loud, frantic, knock on the door. She shot her eyes open and reached for her gun, but assuming it was Elliot, she shook her head and left the weapon on the table. She unlocked the door and pulled it open. "El, I don't...Dickie?"

"Liv? Can I come in?" the boy asked, sniffling.

"Sure, honey. What...what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Olivia asked, wrapping her arms around him and leading him to the couch.

"Mom and Dad...the yelling...the things they were saying to each other...they're getting a divorce," the boy spat.

Olivia's heart started to race. What exactly had Elliot thrown at Kathy? "Oh, baby-boy, I'm sorry you had to hear..."

"It was all about you," he said, cutting her off. "Well, what my mother was saying was all about you. I think...Dad's in love with you, Liv."

Olivia choked. "Um, Dickie, I think maybe..."

"No, he is. He said it. I don't blame him, because you're a lot cooler than Mom and you've been so much nicer to him than she's been," Dickie told her, wiping his eyes. "But she said some awful things about you and Dad defended you, and tried to change the subject, but she went right back to yelling about you."

Olivia sighed and brushed back the boys hair. "Oh, wow. Dickie, sweetie, I don't know if you should be telling...

Dickie interrupted, again. "Dad's just gonna tell you anyway, right? I don't want them to split up, Liv, but they're not happy...all they do is yell and fight and Mom doesn't want you around anymore, and I can't deal with it all. It just hurts to know that they stayed together for so long, unhappy, because that's what they thought we wanted." He rested his head on Olivia's shoulder and held her tight, trying not to cry.

"And it's not?" Olivia asked, rubbing his shoulder.

He shook his head. "What kid wants their parents to stay together if it's gonna make them unhappy? We all know they hate each other. And we all know that, well, Maureen thought so and pointed it out to us, that Dad would rather, um, he'd rather be with you." Dickie looked up at Olivia and blinked. "Are you gonna marry Mr. Langan, Liv? Because if you do, I think it might kill my father."

Olivia wiped a tear from her own eye, her heart broke as she listened to the boy cry and talk, and she shook her head. "No, sweetheart, I'm not gonna marry Mr. Langan." Olivia blinked at him, and tilted her head. "Do your parents know you left the house?"

"No," Dickie said, reaching up to wipe away another of Olivia's tears. "I didn't mean to make you cry, Livvy."

"Oh, pumpkin," she said, as her heart filled with love for the young man. "I always cry when one of you is in pain. Come on, let's get you settled in the bedroom, huh? I'll call your dad and let him know you're here, but I'll tell him you can stay."

"Thanks," Dickie said, giving her a big hug. "Hey, Liv?"

Olivia brushed his hair back and said, "Yeah, bud?"

"Do you love my dad?" Dickie asked, tilting his head.

Olivia was silent. She smiled at him, but said nothing.

"I think you should tell him," Dickie said. "It might make him happy for the first time, in a very long time."

"You're just like your father," Olivia said, leading Dickie into her room. "Too smart for your own good." She pulled down the covers, watched the boy climb in, kissed him on the forehead, and tucked him in. "Goodnight, little Stabler."

"Goodnight, big Benson. Oh, Liv?" he asked with a yawn.

As she turned out the light, she replied. "Yeah, honey?"

"Another way I'm just like my dad is, I love you, too," he said, his little eyes closed and his hands clutched around the pillow.

Another tear fell as she sweetly said, "Oh, Dickie. I love you, kiddo."

* * *

"Hey," Elliot said, opening her door and closing it, softly. "Thanks for calling while I was still fighting with Kathy. She didn't mind my son running away to your place at all," he said mildly sarcastically. "In fact, she loved it so much, she yelled about it for twenty minutes."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "I didn't know you were still fighting with her, El. I wanted to make sure you both knew he was safe."

"I know, baby," Elliot said with a light chuckle. "He really heard everything, huh?"

"Yeah," Olivia said, nodding. "Well, up until he left. He also said that the kids expected this, they wish it would have happened sooner because they're tired of the fighting, and you, apparently, wear your heart on your sleeve at home. Your entire family thinks you're in love with me."

Elliot raised an eyebrow at her as he sat next to her on the couch. "I am."

"Well, it would have been nice of you to tell me that, ya know, before we jumped right to the sex." Olivia said, patting his knee.

Chuckling, Elliot said, "Hey, is how we got together really important? I think we both had an amazing time, and we're together now, so..."

"Oh," Olivia interrupted. "I promised Dickie I would tell you that I love you. He said it would make you happier than you've been in a very long time."

"So, tell me," Elliot demanded with a smug grin and a lick of his lips.

"I love you," Olivia told him, leaning closer to him. She brushed her nose against his and breathed him in, heaving a contented sigh.

"Damn, the kid was right," Elliot said with a laugh. "Happiest I've been, well, ever, really. I love you, too, Liv." He cupped her face with one hand, pulled her closer, and pressed his lips to hers. He wrapped his other arm around her body, pulling her onto his lap and deepened the kiss. He moaned, very softly, into her mouth.

"El," she whispered, "Your son is in the next room, baby, we can't."

"We can't kiss?" he asked, reclaiming her mouth.

Olivia chuckled. "I'm having the most amazing feeling of déjà vu," she said. "First there was talking, then there was kissing."

"Ah, but there was no one in the precinct that night, baby. There was just us." Elliot swiped his hands over her chest, thumbing her nipples lightly. "I told Kathy I want a divorce," he said, stopping his fondling and looking into her eyes.

Olivia nodded. "I know, Dickie told me."

"Did he tell you that she's gonna give me one? A very messy one, but she's not fighting it," he said, resuming his groping. "She wants half of everything I got, and she wants the house."

"Why are you so happy about that? God, El, that feels so damn good," she gasped, dropping her forehead to his and bucking her hips, rubbing against him.

He groaned and pulled her down, forcing her to rub harder. "I'm happy, because there's one thing she isn't going after."

"What?" Olivia asked, moaning into his neck.

Elliot licked her neck, right behind her ear, then whispered, huskily, "The kids."

With a new excited fervor, they made out like teenagers, briefly avoiding the turmoil of the mudslinging divorce, the fact that Kathy would be throwing Elliot and the kids out of the house as soon as the divorce was final, and the fact that Trevor wasn't ready to let Olivia go. They would deal, later, with their crumbling lives, and the glue that would hold it all together: each other.

**A/N: next: round one of the divorce, a new case, and another apology from Trevor, where Eliot confronts him about Kathy. **


	5. Back and Forth

**A/N: You have to look back if you want to move forward... **

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue and plot of this story**

_They'd only been at work for thirty-two hours, they shouldn't have been that tired already. Elliot looked at Olivia and smiled softly. "Liv," he said, "Why don't we take a break? Let's just go upstairs and catch a few winks, no one's here. This guy's not going anywhere."_

_Olivia simply nodded. She yawned, covering her mouth in a sudden rush of modesty, and he saw the ring. That damn ring. He'd been staring at it all damn day. Why the fuck did she say yes? He got out of his seat and pulled her out of hers, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they walked up to the cribs. He shut the door behind them and watched as she plopped down on the nearest bed. He sat on the same one, looking down at her. _

_"What?" she asked, half-asleep already. _

_"I wanna talk to you," he said, seriousness in his eyes. "We haven't talked in a while. Remember, we used to talk all the time."_

_"We did," Olivia said. "And then I got a life that didn't revolve around you.:_

_Elliot smirked. "Yeah, I wanna talk about that, too," he said. "About this." He held up her ringed hand and his face fell. "Why are you doing this?"_

_Olivia closed her eyes. "Why did you marry Kathy?"_

_"You're pregnant?" His eyes were the size of dinner plates, and he almost shouted it. _

_Olivia snapped up and her own eyes widened. "What? No," she snapped. "El, I'm marrying him because he asked me to marry him, and...I want a family, and a life, and..."_

_"Do you love him?" he asked her, dear in his eyes. "Are you marrying him because you love him?"_

_She was silent. _

_"You don't love him." He told her, he didn't ask. He cupped her face in his hands and leaned in closer. "Close your eyes, Liv."_

_Olivia's breath hitched. "Why?"_

_"Because if you can't see it happening," he said, "If you don't want this to happen, then you can just pretend you're dreaming." He watched her eyes flutter closed, pulled her face toward his, and pressed his lips against hers and every feeling he had every had for her exploded. He popped the lid off of a shaken bottle of champagne, because her hands clutched the back of his head, and the kiss deepened of its own accord. It's not clear whose tongue begged for entrance or if both mouths simultaneously opened. The second their tongues touched, deep growls escaped from both of them, and the clothes started coming undone, and then off. The kiss never broke and the moans never stopped. "Tell me to stop, Liv," Elliot demanded. He needed her to put an end to it before it went too far, as if it hadn't already. "Tell me you don't want this, baby."_

_As her hands flew to his pants, pushing them down and off of his magnificently strong body, Olivia shook her head. "I can't," she said against their still-kissing lips. "I promised I would never lie to you."_

_Elliot pushed her down to the bed, flat, and pulled the remaining material off of her body. He loomed over her, memorizing her for a moment, and then his lips found their way to her breasts. He took a nipple in his mouth, sucked on it and bit and nibbled and then sucked some more. He took the other in his hand and pulled, rolled and twisted, enjoying the way she moaned his name and gripped his hair, bucking her hips. He kept it up until she almost came from that alone. He let the nipple in his mouth loose with a pop and kissed his way down her body until he met her hot, throbbing core. He knew, just from looking, that she was wetter than he'd imagined and he looked up at her with his classic, smug, cocky, Stabler-grin. His tongue slid up her slit three glorious times before he pushed a finger into her. _

_Olivia screamed his name, bucking her hips again, and rolled her head to the side. She gripped his hair in her hands, still, and raised his head to look at her. "El," she said, panting, "I've waited for this, for so long. Please," she cried. _

_Elliot pulled his finger out of her and crawled back up her body, kissed her, so intensely, and readied himself to enter her. "Liv," he said, kissing her again. "This is our last chance to stop. No turning back."_

_Olivia wrapped her hands around his neck and laced her legs around his. "I don't want to stop," she said, kissing him. "I don't ever want to stop."_

_As he began to push into her, slowly, deeply, hearing her cries of pleasure-pain, he kissed her feverishly. And once he was sheathed inside of her warmth, all the way, feeling her skin on his, he looked into her wide-open brown eyes and said the words that he'd waited five years to say, that she'd waited five years to hear. "I love you, Liv," he told her, as a tear ran down his cheek. _

_As the tears ran down hers, she replied, "Oh, my God, El. I love you, too."_

The alarm on her phone went off, bleeping sharply into her ear. She shot her eyes open and looked around wondering why she was on her couch and why she couldn't move. Then she remembered. She was on her couch because Elliot's son, Dickie, was in her bed. And she couldn't move because Dickie's father, Elliot, was holding her against his body so tightly that she'd probably need the jaws of life to get out of his grasp. "El," she said, shimmying. "Elliot." She nudged and lightly elbowed him, and rolled around in his arm. "Elli-"

He cut her off with a scorching kiss. He rolled them over until he was on top of her and deepened the kiss. Apparently, he wasn't afraid of a little morning breath. "Good morning," he said.

"Good morning," Olivia replied. "You need to take your son home, get changed and we need to be at work in two hours."

"Okay," Elliot said, "So, I'll be back here in one." He winked at her and climbed off of her, heading into the bedroom to collect his son.

Dickie, groggy and unkempt, ran out of Olivia's room and jumped into her arms. "I'll see you soon, Livvy," he whispered into her ear. "Love you."

"I love you, too, bud," she whispered back. She looked up at Elliot and the tears in his eyes told her that they'd whispered a little too loudly.

* * *

Elliot walked into the precinct, an hour late, and threw his keys across his desk.

"Okay," Cragen said, "I'm not gonna yell at you. Clearly, something happened."

"Ya think?" Elliot spat. He ran a hand through his hair and then down his face. He couldn't even look at Olivia. He just walked over to Fin and grabbed the file out of his hands. "What have we got? I need to think about something other than my marriage."

Olivia tried not to flinch. He said "marriage" and not "divorce." What did that mean?

Cragen raised his eyebrows and sighed. "Well, we've got twenty-three year old vic, unconscious at Mercy General, and the only clues we have to go on are a blue button and the impression of a ring in her cheek."

Elliot flipped through the file and sighed. "Well what does the ring..."

"Trevor?" Olivia's voice, and the confusion and worry in it, made everyone turn and look at the door.

The usually smug looking lawyer looked very disheveled. Unshaven, sloppy and not his best effort at matching his socks. His tie was tied a bit lopsided and his eyes were red and swollen. He walked over to Olivia and grabbed her face in his hands. "Livvy," he said, softly. "I can't...you have to...please?"

"You can, no I don't, no," she replied. She peeled his hands off of her face and shook her head, and walked out of the bullpen.

Trevor followed her halfway down the hall. "Olivia," he called after her. "Baby, please! I never meant to hurt you! I was trying to get it all out of my system before we got married. I never wanted to...once there was only you, I didn't want to regret...shit, this is coming out all wrong. Do you see what living without you is doing to me?"

"You should have thought of that before you slept with every female lawyer in Manhattan!" Olivia yelled, tearing up. She didn't really love him, so what was with the tears. Or, did she love him? Was she upset that she threw him away for Elliot, when she wasn't even sure she could really have him?"

Trevor pulled Olivia's hands into his. "Livvy, I need you to forgive me. I need you to put the ring back on and I need you to..."

"I need you to stop calling me 'Livvy' because there are only two people in the world who can call me that without making me feel like a little girl, I need you to get a grip and realize that I didn't just dump you because of what you did, I did it because of what I did. I need you to let me go," Olivia said, wiping her eyes with one hand. Trevor would let go of the other.

"Livvy...Olivia, I swear, whatever you did, I'll forgive you. I promise, It can't be..."

"She slept with me," Elliot said from behind Trevor. He could say it, since no one that mattered was around to hear it.

Trevor turned around and his eyes widened. "Oh, my God. Anything but that," he said, his eyes suddenly closing. "She didn't," he whispered, shaking his head. "She wouldn't..."

"She did," Elliot said. "Why does that scare you so much?"

Trevor sighed. "It's always been you, Stabler. The one person who could rip her away from me was you, and you fucking did it, you son of a bitch. The only one she ever needed, besides me, was you. Aren't you married?"

"Yes," Elliot said, "And so is my wife. Didn't stop you from sleeping with her, did it?"

"I told you, we were drunk! Or...maybe she was drunk...I...I wanted to hurt you, a lot. I think, maybe she wanted to hurt Olivia, too, it was a revenge fuck, Elliot," Trevor spat. "But, you're still married, why can't you let Olivia have the same luxury? Huh?"

Elliot chuckled. "Trevor, I haven't had a very good day, okay? And for your information, I'm...getting a divorce. You were wrong, before. She didn't need me, besides you. She just needed me. She never needed you, Trevor. You were a substitute. A bad one. Because she couldn't have me," he said, quietly, almost arrogantly, as he took a step forward. "Guess what? She's got me now. And she never wants to see you, outside of the courtroom, ever again. You had to know this would happen."

Trevor sighed. "I did," he admitted. "I just didn't expect to hurt this much when it did." He looked back at Olivia and cupped her chin with one hand. "I really am an idiot, Olivia. You're an amazing woman. You didn't deserve...what I did to you." He kissed her cheek, nodded back at Elliot, and walked down the hall, fading from view.

Elliot walked up to Olivia and pulled her into his arms. "God, are you..."

"I'm fine," she said, sniffling. "He looked so..."

"I know, Liv," Elliot said, brushing her hair back. "He did it to himself. He couldn't have expected you to stay with him once you found out he'd been cheating on you."

Olivia nodded. "I know, El," she mumbled. She wiped her eyes and looked up at him. "Why were you in such a mood this morning?"

"Christ," he said, shaking his head. "Kathy turned on the water works the second I brought Dickie home. Telling me how sorry she was about the fight we had, and how she didn't mean anything she said. I told her it was too bad, that I meant everything I said, and we went right back into fighting. She's still denying sleeping with Trevor, by the way. I packed a bag, and then she cried again and begged me not to leave."

"Wait," Olivia said, furrowing her brow and straightening out Elliot's tie. "Leave?"

"I told her I needed to get away from her," Elliot said, rubbing Olivia's arms. "I called Alex, on my way back to your place. She got me the name of a great divorce attorney and by the time I got here, Kathy was on the phone with me, telling me not to go through with it or instead of taking me for half of everything I've got, she'd go for it all."

Olivia looked up at him with fear in her eyes. "What are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna call that lawyer, Liv," Elliot said, smirking at her. "As soon as we find the bastard who put our vic in the hospital." He looked over his shoulder, quickly, making sure no one was watching him, and he kissed Olivia, sweetly. "I love you. Don't you get it? You're all that matters. You and my kids. You're all I'll ever need."

"I love you, El," Olivia said, wrapping an arm around him. They walked back into the bullpen, taking the first step forward into whatever mess they were about to get into, together.

**A/N: Next: Maureen comes a' callin', and she's not as happy about this as Dickie. The case takes an interesting and personal turn, and Elliot's divorce gets dirty. **


	6. Complications

**A/N: Complications. A lot of them. Can they handle them?**

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue and plot of this story**

Olivia and Elliot were in the hospital room, taking their vic's statement. They'd already heard the violent details, and now they needed the personal ones. "Did you know the man who attacked you? Had you seen him before?" Olivia asked.

"Yes," the girl nodded. "He goes to that bar all of the time, and when I approached him, he seemed so nice. I know a few girls who've had, um, experiences with him, and he'd never been violent with them."

Olivia wrote that down in her notebook. "Okay, so you walked up to him, and how did he react to you?"

"He was very nice at first, you know? He tried to let me down, easily. He told me he was engaged, and he really loved her. I told him that I thought it was sweet and I turned to walk away, that's when he grabbed me." The young lady squeezed her eyes shut and shuddered.

"Okay, you told us that part," Eliot said, squeezing his eyes shut as well. He didn't want to hear it again. "Can you describe him?"

"Of course," the young woman said. "Tall, well-built, but not muscular like you," she directed at Elliot. "He was thin. He was wearing a suit. He had, um, kind of shaggy, dark hair. He had these icy, blue-green eyes, and he..."

"Oh, my God," Olivia cried, her hand shooting to her mouth. "It...can't...you don't know his name, do you?"

The young girl nodded. "I do, I was afraid to tell you because...he's a lawyer and..."

"Trevor," Olivia gasped, tears springing to her eyes.

"Yeah," the vic said, nodding. "How did you know?"

Without answering, Olivia walked out of the room, tossing her notebook to Elliot on the way.

* * *

"Okay, okay," Trevor said, running to his door. He swung it open and was met with the pissed off, upset and fierce version of Olivia. One that he'd never seen before. "Livvy? What are you..."

"Shut up," she spat. "I need you to come out into the hallway, Langan!"

"Langan?" he asked, scoffing. "What did I do to make you hate me enough to go back to calling me by my last name?"

Olivia seethed and narrowed her eyes at him. "You know damn well," she barked. "Hallway. Now!"

Confused, Trevor shook his head. "Not until you tell me what this about."

"You really don't know? You know what unit I work for, right? You know that I would fall onto this case, eventually, you asshole. What, you did it to get to me at work? Get into my head?"

Trevor's eyes widened. "Livvy, what are you..."

"Stop fucking calling me 'Livvy,' and get out here, because I can't arrest you in your own home," Olivia said through gritted teeth.

"Arrest me?" Trevor gasped. "For what?" he asked, absentmindedly stepping into the hall.

"Rape, you son of a bitch," she said, grabbing him and spinning him around. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say..."

"Olivia, baby, please! I didn't rape anyone!" Trevor yelled as he felt her slap the cuffs on tight.

"You have the right to an attorney, God knows you can fucking afford one of your high-powered pals," Olivia spat, giving Trevor a shove.

Trevor turned around, hands cuffed behind his back and looked her in the eyes. "You know me, Olivia. You know I would never...could never...do that to anyone. Look at me, Livvy."

Olivia looked in his eyes, and they were pleading, somewhat broken. "I have to do this, Trevor. She described you, she identified you," she said, softly. Almost apologetically.

Trevor, not thinking, leaned in and kissed her, passionately. He tried to force his way into her mouth, and he only took her pushing him away as incentive to move into her further.

"What the hell are you doing, Langan?" an angry, male voice spat, harshly, from behind Olivia.

Trevor chuckled, pulling away from Olivia. "Man, you have the worst timing. She was just about to kiss me back."

"She was not, you ass, I've been here the whole time," Elliot said, his anger rising.

Olivia was too stunned to say anything. She just shook her head and turned to Elliot. "Finish reading him his rights," she said, then she walked, quickly, down the hall.

"You have serious problems, Langan," Elliot said. "I think you know your rights, but, do you understand them as they've been explained..."

"Shut up, Stabler," Trevor spat.

"Wow," Elliot said, leading Trevor down the hall. "So much for remaining silent"

* * *

Olivia walked into the bullpen, barreled into Cragen's office and pulled herself off of the case. She came back out into the squadroom, grabbed something out of her desk, and bolted passed Elliot, who was still clutching Trevor.

"Fin," Elliot said, shoving Trevor into his arms. "Take care of this. I have to go with Liv." He didn't wait for a response before running after Olivia. He caught up to her outside, as she was hailing a cab. "Liv!" he called, running to her.

"El, don't," Olivia said, shaking her head.

"I'm driving you home," he said, pulling her back to him. "And we are going to have a brief moment of kicking the shit out of the wall and we can have amazing angry sex, but please, don't shut me out."

Olivia turned and buried her head in his chest, holding him tight. "I'm such a fucking idiot! God, El, that could have been me! I didn't see..."

"No," Elliot said, pushing her off of him and staring into her eyes. "Don't blame yourself, like you always do. Not for this. Come on," he told her. "We're going home."

"We?" she asked, suddenly narrow-eyed.

Elliot nodded and kissed her forehead. "Of course," Elliot said. "You need me, Liv. I'm not leaving you alone. Not now. Not ever." He led her to his car, and drove, in silence, to her apartment. As they pulled up and parked, they were met with a very surprising sight.

"Maureen?" Elliot asked, slamming the car door shut and running up the steps to Olivia's building. "What are you doing here?"

"Daddy," the teenager cried. "You have to come home! You don't know what you're doing. Please!"

Elliot wrapped his arms around the girl and sighed. "Mo, you know I can't do that, sweetie."

"Why not? Is this really it? You're just gonna give up?" Maureen asked, disbelieving. "You can't, Daddy. You have to come home and fix things," she commanded, pulling him back toward his car.

"Mo!" he yelled. "Come up to Liv's, and we'll talk about this."

Maureen shook her head. "No! I'm not going up there, Dad. You can't seriously be leaving Mom for Olivia."

"Maureen, I'm not leaving because of Liv. I'm leaving because we just can't be married anymore," Elliot explained. "You hear all of the fighting your mother and I do, don't you? Do you think we're happy?"

Maureen shook her head. "But, you don't understand. Daddy, she won't stop crying! We can't get her to eat, or sleep. You need to come home!"

Elliot rested his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Look, Mo, Liv has had a very bad day and..."

"Go, El," Olivia said, climbing the stairs the rest of the way. "I'm a big girl, I can handle this all by myself. Just go home."

"Hey," Elliot called up to her. "Remember what I said, Liv? It's you. You and me. I _am_ home." He looked back and Maureen and sighed. "Mo, listen, honey. Your mother and I are over, and you and your brother and sisters are gonna be living with me. And Olivia. It won't be long until that happens. Now, I need you to..."

"Oh, shut up, Dad!" Maureen interrupted. "When that happens, fine. Until it does, come home and deal with her!" She folded her arms and tapped her foot.

Elliot sighed and rolled his eyes. "Liv, I will back. I'm gonna take Maureen home and tell Kathy off, once and...do you wanna come for a ride?"

"No," Olivia said, shaking her head with wide eyes and a half-smirk. "No way." Olivia pushed through her door and sighed. "I'll be up, if you come back. Just use your key."

"Liv, I'm coming back," he declared. He ran up the steps and kissed her, brushing her hair back. "I'm coming home."

"Okay," Olivia said, nodding. She gave him a sad, unsure smile, and walked into her building.

Elliot sighed and walked back down to where Maureen was standing. "I'm taking you home, talking to your mother, and that is it, Mo."

"No, Daddy. You're staying. You'll see," Maureen said, smiling and hugging her father.

From the window of the lobby of her building, Olivia had been thinking the same thing. That he would be staying. She wasn't smiling about it, and she hoped to God she was wrong.

**A/N: What happens with Trevor? What does Elliot say to Kathy? Does he make it back home to Olivia? Review!! **


	7. Crumbling

**A/N: "Home is where the heart is", "Love is all you need", and "Where there's smoke there's fire."**

**DISCLAIMER: SVU and its Characters belong to Dick Wolf. Storyline and dialogue, and narrative belong to TStabler©**

Elliot and Maureen ran into the house and was met by a loud wailing sound and three relieved children. "Thank God," Dickie yelled. "Can you please either take us back to Livvy's or make our mother stop that racket?"

"Uh," Elliot stammered, looking at the waiting kids. He was pretty sure Olivia wouldn't mind, it would just be for one night. Right? "Go get a bag. One bag, each, and I'll talk to your mother."

"Thank the Lord," Kathleen yelled, running up the stairs.

Maureen huffed. "Guys! You were supposed to help me convince him to stay!"

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "You're the only one that thinks that's a good idea, Mo," the youngest girl said. "We're going to Livvy's with Dad. You can stay here with Mom and listen to her moaning."

"No, thank you," Maureen said, suddenly bounding up the stairs after her siblings.

Elliot chuckled and walked over to the couch, leaning over the bawling blonde mess of a woman. "Kathy," he called. "Kathy, stop it." He shook her gently and rubbed her arm. Finally he had to yell. "Kathy!"

Kathy popped her head up, saw him, and pulled him into a hug. "You're back! Oh, God, you're home!"

"No, Kathy, I only came back because Maureen made me promise to talk to you. Listen, they're gonna come with me tonight. I'm gonna get in touch with your sister and you're going to spend some time alone, with her, getting it through your head that we are over and done with. I called a lawyer and I've already had papers drawn up. Whether you sign them or not, I'm gone. We do nothing but fight and your unfounded accusations of some non-existent affair have finally pushed me over the edge," he explained. "You actually drove me right to her, Kathy. You've gotta stop crying and yelling and threatening me. I honestly think you need help, and you need to be away from me and away from the kids while you get it. Understand?"

"No, Elliot," Kathy said, suddenly angry. "I don't understand. I'm sure if your precious Olivia was sitting here crying, you'd be the one with her. You would not call her sister and then walk away!"

Eliot smirked. "First off, Olivia wouldn't be crying like this," he said. "When she cries, it's because she's honestly hurt. And second, damn right. I'd be right there with her." He got to his feet, turned and walked into the kitchen. "She doesn't have a sister, by the way," he added, and just as he was about to pull open the fridge, he heard the kids running down the stairs.

"Okay," Dickie yelled. "We're ready."

Kathleen looked at her mother. "We'll come back when you get a hold of yourself," she said, hugging her.

"Mom," Maureen said. "I really don't want to go, but I really don't want to be alone with you and your crazy mood swings, either," she shrugged. She gave Kathy a kiss on the cheek.

Lizzie just waved from in front of the front door. "Bye," she said, happy to be going to Olivia's.

"Kathy," Elliot said, "This really is over." He looked at her with a sad smile and said, "I'm sorry," and headed for the door.

* * *

Elliot turned the key and pushed open the door, and as promised Olivia was sitting up on the couch, reading. She looked at him as he came in and he saw her visibly relax, as if she'd suddenly remembered how to breathe. "Hey, Liv," he said, his words dripping with concern. "What was that?"

"What was what?" she asked, smiling at him.

"I actually saw the world fall off of your shoulders. You actually thought I wasn't coming back, huh?" he asked, smirking.

Olivia rolled her neck and her eyes. "For, like, a second. El, she's your wife..."

"Liv," he interrupted her, "Not anymore. Hey, I have a question for you, baby. If, uh, I needed to keep my kids away from Kathy for a while, would I be able to bring them here?"

Olivia looked at him as if he had five heads. "Of course, El, you wouldn't even have to ask me!"

"Good," he said, running back to the door. He swung it open and all four kids walked in, three of them smiling and one looking as if she was about to get a root canal from a blind dentist. "Because, uh, I need to keep my kids away from Kathy for a while, so I brought them here."

"Wow," Olivia said, her eyes widening. "You own a cell phone, right? You could have called, warned me."

Elliot just stared at her. "You...you just said...you just told me I didn't even have to..."

Olivia laughed, interrupting him. "I'm kidding, El. Come here, guys," she said, waving the kids over with wide arms.

Lizzie, Dickie and Kathleen ran over and hugged her tightly. Maureen stood, staunchly, by her father. "When she gets her sanity back, are you going back to Mom?" she asked.

Elliot shook his head. "No, Maureen. I'm not"

"So, Liv could, like, be my stepmother someday?" Maureen asked.

Elliot shrugged. "Mo, we aren't even sure what's going on with us, but yes. That's a possibility. Right now, though, we are together, and you have to know that..."

"Dad," she jumped in, "I just asked you a simple question. And yeah, I know how much you two love each other." She looked toward Olivia and sighed. "I just can't understand how we all feel so different when we're with Olivia. We're all more comfortable with her than our mother, and that's why I'm so pissed off," she said. "That's just so wrong. It shouldn't be that way. What happened to Mom, Dad?"

Before Elliot could say anything, his cell phone rang. He squeezed his daughter's shoulders and answered his phone with a sharp, "Stabler." His face fell and he went white. "Oh, Jesus Christ! Is she out of the house? Why the hell would she...no, no. We're on our way. Bye, Dana." He snapped his phone shut and looked at Olivia. "Liv, baby, call Cragen, and then call someone from the Arson and Explosives squad. Kathy set the house on fire." He grabbed his keys and swung the door open, leading everyone out of Olivia's apartment.

* * *

By the time they got to the house, it was practically engulfed in flames. The fire department was working on controlling the blaze, neighbors were gathered on their lawns, watching, and Cragen was already there with the chief from the AEU. Elliot told Olivia to keep the kids with her as he strode over to Cragen. "Cap," Elliot shouted. "How did you get here so fast?"

"I was in the neighborhood," Cragen said. "Um, visiting a friend. My question is, why were you and your kids at Benson's?"

"Kathy was being difficult, as usual, and really upsetting the kids. Liv was doing me a favor by letting us stay there tonight," he said, leaving out the part about he and Olivia being involved, of course. "And didn't think she should be alone after Trevor..."

"Oh," Cragen said. "About that. He insists he's innocent, and there's no DNA to prove otherwise. This one's gonna be tough."

Elliot sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I thought it would be, yeah," he said. "Carter," he said to the other officer, extending his hand, "How bad is it?"

"Well," the arson investigator said, "We won't be able to really tell until the fire's out, but your wife's sister, Dana, told us she saw her start it. It's a deliberately set fire, Elliot."

"Shit," Elliot said. "What the hell am I gonna do? Insurance won't cover that, and my kids are over there watching everything they own burn to the fucking ground!"

Cragen pinched the bridge of his nose. "Um, we have some safe houses you could..."

"No, Cap. Thanks, but I'm not comfortable with my kids staying in a government sanctioned undercover op house," Elliot said, shaking his head. "Excuse me," he said, nodding to Cragen. He walked over to Kathy, who was standing, cuffed, next to two uniformed officers with a big grin on her face as she watched the house burn. "Kathy," Elliot spat. "What the hell is the matter with you? Why the fuck did you burn down the house?"

Kathy, without taking her eyes off of the glowing building, simply said, "You walked out, Elliot. You took the kids. It wasn't a home anymore. Everyone was gone. Everything was gone, so I made the rest of it all go away." She looked up at him, and her eyes were empty, glazed over, and her pupils were large.

"What are you on?" Elliot asked, furrowing his brow, "And how long have you been on it?" He grabbed her chin, tilted her head and turned her face. "Shit, Kathy, is this what's made you so unbearable for the last five fucking years? It wasn't Olivia, Kathy."

Kathy laughed. "Oh, yeah it was," she said, turning her head back to the blaze. "It certainly was."

Elliot looked at the officer next to her and said, "Take her to Mercy General, now! I want a full tox-screen run on her, and I want the results delivered to me, personally."

"Yes, Detective Stabler," the cop said, pulling Kathy toward a squad car.

Elliot watched her being carted away and he walked back toward Olivia. "Damn it," he spat in a whisper, absently rubbing his forehead against hers.

"What, El?" Olivia asked, concerned, resting a hand on his lower back.

Elliot sighed and said. "Kathy's definitely on drugs. That's why she's been moody, and irrational, and why she doesn't remember sleeping with Trevor, and why she just fucking burned down my house. Fuck, baby, where the hell am I supposed to take my kids?"

Olivia was silent for a moment, then she moved her hand from his back to his neck, pulling him closer to her, and kissed him gently. "You already took them there," she said. "Hey, guys," she said, loudly, to the kids who were staring at their finally extinguishing house. "Until your dad can find you guys a new place, or fix this one, you're gonna stay with me, okay?"

Between the tears and the sniffles, there were nods and "Thank-you, Liv's."

"We'll be a little cramped, but how long could it really take?" she asked, looking at Elliot.

"Liv," Elliot said, "I don't know what I did to deserve you, or how I got so damn lucky to have you in my life. I love you, Benson." Overcome with emotion, he kissed her, unaware that Cragen had been watching them the entire time.

**A/N: What will they do for clothes and things? Where are they all going to sleep? What will Cragen do? What was Kathy on? More if you want it!**


	8. Rebuilding

**A/N: There's only one thing to do when your life falls apart. Rebuild it.**

**DISCLAIMER: SVU and its Characters belong to Dick Wolf. Storyline and dialogue, and narrative belong to TStabler©**

Olivia and Elliot walked into the bullpen, grumbling to each other and with their coffees already half gone. Cragen took one look at them and sighed. He knew there was something going on with them, he knew Elliot and his kids had just spent a panickedm, sleepless night at Olivia's, and he knew that he'd have to give them more bad news right now.

"Guys," Cragen said, walking over to Olivia and Elliot, sitting behind their conjoined desks, "I know you had the night from hell, But Langan's in interrogation room one. He's been waiting to talk to the two of you. Especially you," he said, pointing to Olivia. "He said he he's got something for you while you're in there."

Olivia sighed, took a big gulp of her coffee, and got out of her seat to head into the room. Elliot followed her, silently, thinking that he was in the mood to kill someone, and Langan would be the perfect choice.

"Livvy!" Trevor cried when she walked in. "God, you look so pretty! Livvy, baby, I did not do this! You have to believe me!"

Elliot glared at him and folded his arms. "Stop calling her 'Livvy,' Langan. In this room, she's Detective Benson to you."

"Oh, shut up, Stabler," Trevor said. He, then, nodded toward a white ring box on the table and looked up at Olivia. "Once you find real proof that I didn't rape that girl, Livvy, I want that ring back on your finger, and I swear, it all stops. No more lying, no more cheating, no more..."

"No," Olivia said, sternly.

Trevor blinked rapidly, as if he honestly couldn't believe she just refused him. "What? he asked, stunned.

"We have an eyewitness who puts you at the bar, talking to the girl. We have her statements, giving us a physical description and your name, and she chose your photo out of a group of pictures. The impression of your ring was found in the crook of her neck," Olivia listed. "On top of that, you've done nothing but lie to me for the last year, so why is now different?"

Trevor scoffed. "I lied about consensual sex with people I worked with, Livvy," he said. "I would not, ever, violently rape anyone! And you're one to talk about lying!"

"Don't give me that shit, Langan. I didn't lie about jack shit. The second anything happened with me and..." she paused, aware of who was behind the mirror, "Someone else, I ended things with you!" Olivia yelled, pushing the ring back toward Trevor.

"You accepted the ring in the first place," Trevor said, "You knew you were making a promise you'd never keep because you were in love with someone else. Someone who, no surprise here, has been with a heavy Amphetamine and Coke addict for the last five years, and a raging alcoholic for years before that!" He glared at Elliot and chuckled. "Sorry son of a bitch, that guy, isn't he?" He looked back at Olivia and his eyes went icy cold. "That's the worst kind of lie there is, Livvy."

Olivia sighed, and shook her head. "No, Trevor. The worst kid of lie is the one I've been telling myself for the last five years," she said, without thinking. "But as long as we can all admit the fucking truth now, we'll be fine. So, start telling the truth!"

Elliot, suddenly afraid of what Olivia meant by that last statement, chimed in. "You set the whole thing up to get in here with Olivia, didn't you? You asked the girl at..."

"You asshole," Olivia shouted, seeing the suddenly pale, yet smug, expression on Trevor's face. "You paid her to say that you raped her? What did you hope to accomplish, other than wasting about a million bucks of city funds and our valuable time and resources?"

Trevor sighed. "I was hoping you would do everything in your power to prove my innocence, prove you really did love me. I never, not for a million years, thought you'd really believe I could do this, Livvy. Can you uncuff me now?"

"No," Olivia said, smirking. "You, Mr. Langan, Attorney at Law, didn't know that you were committing a Class A felony? You're staying right where you are."

"Oh, come on, Livvy! Baby, it was a harmless stunt! No one got hurt!" Trevor argued.

Olivia scoffed, and gave him one of classic evil-grins. "I did," she spat to him. "Elliot...this entire unit did, and you and that girl are both going down for it." She shoved her way past Elliot and swung the door open, bolting out of the room, out of the pit, and out of the squadroom all together.

Elliot found her, ten minutes later, on the roof. Five years of studying her every expression, knowing her every thought and every calculated move told him that was where she would be. "Liv," he called, cautiously, knowing she would either hug him or shoot him.

"Our lives suck, El," she said, looking out over the high-edge of the roof.

Elliot chuckled. "They aren't that bad," he said with a shrug, striding up next to her. He rested his arms on the ledge and peered out, looking at exactly the same part of sky at which Olivia'd been staring.

"Yes, they do. I broke Trevor. Kathy had a drug-induced psychotic break, your house and everything in it is gone, your kids are living on my living room floor, and it's all because of one stupid night," Olivia rambled, shaking her head and biting her bottom lip. "We haven't even talked about what that night did to us, El. What are we? Where do we stand? How the hell do we tell Cragen and convince him to let us stay together?" She turned to him, then, and saw that he was still staring at the horizon. "I'm not ready to give you up, as a partner, El. What we did that night was stupid, and reckless, and we're paying for it, dearly."

He finally turned to her, smirking. "Stupid and reckless, sure, but a whole lot of great things came from that night in the cribs, Liv." He took her hand in his and squeezed. "We finally admitted our feelings for each other, and we've both been happier than ever, for the most part. You didn't break Trevor, he just hates to fucking lose, and he's invited half of Manhattan to a high-profile wedding that isn't gonna happen now. He's embarrassed, baby. It has nothing to do with you."

"True," Olivia said, shrugging. "And your life? How does that not completely blow right now?"

Elliot laughed and wrapped an arm around Olivia. "According to the doctor, Kathy's been on drugs for years, so her psychotic break was bound to happen sooner or later. It's just a house, Liv. The kids are safe because they were staying with you anyway. You saved them, baby. Like you always do." He brushed a hair behind her ear, and looked into her eyes. "We are, if you want to be, a couple. A real one. We stand, as we always have, together. And as far as I'm concerned it's forever. We don't tell Cragen unless we have to, which is either when we get married or you get pregnant, because I'm not ready to lose you as a partner either, but I'm sure as hell not losing you as my girlfriend," he explained to her. He leaned in and his lips touched hers, softly. "I told you this before, you're all I need to get by, Liv. And you told me once, years ago, that..."

"As long as I have my job and you, nothing else matters," Olivia said, looking deeply into his cerulean orbs. "I know."

"So now you have me. All of me. What's the problem?" he asked, smugly.

Olivia chuckled. "Nothing, I guess I just...it wasn't exactly how I imagined us getting together. I certainly never imagined that us ranomly and spontaneously sleeping together would lead to a great lawyer destroying himself and your wife burning down your house," she said, still laughing, suddenly finding the whole thing amusing.

"He wasn't that great of a lawyer, and she's my ex-wife," Elliot corrected, "But I see what you're saying. How did you imagine us getting together?" he asked, kissing her.

Olivia laughed, rolling her eyes. "Jesus, it's so cheesy, you don't wanna..."

"I do," he said. "You want me to go first?"

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Elliot Stabler has fantasies?"

"A few thousand of them, and they all involve you. Well, one involves you and me and all four of the Beatles playing live on a yacht, but whatever," Elliot said, laughing. "The way I pictured it...now, don't smack me, remember this is just a fantasy, Liv," he reminded her. "We're at a crime scene, some horribly tragic, triple-homicide, like two kids and their mother. We both do our thing, get through it like we always do, and as we're leaving, you tell me that I need to go home to my wife, hug my kids, tell them how much I love them..."

"Like I've said to you a thousand times," Olivia interrupted.

"Yeah," Elliot said. "Shut up. I'm not done," he laughed, kissing her nose. "And as you turn to walk away, I say, 'I'd rather go home with you.' You turn around, look at me, and I hold up my left hand. You see that the ring's gone and your eyes go wide and you smile, and for the first time, you and I are comforted by each other, the only other person in our lives who can really make the pain go away."

Olivia was speechless. She expected something raunchy, or kinky. This was Elliot, after all, and she knew how his mind worked. But what she got was probably the most heartbreaking scenario possible, it made hers seem so silly. "You got me beat," she said, fighting the urge to cry. "You don't wanna hear mine now."

"Try me," Elliot said, wiping the lone tear that had escaped.

Olivia took a deep breath and sighed. "Well, uh, you come over on Wednesday night, with Chinese food and a movie..."

"Like I've done a thousand times," Elliot interrupted, deliberating parroting her earlier phrasing.

Olivia smacked him playfully and chuckled. "Yeah. But shut up, I'm not done," she parroted back, kissing his nose. "And we talk, eat, watch the dumb action flick you picked out, but as the movie progresses, you move closer and closer to me. Your arm finds its way over my shoulder, you see me looking at you like you've lost your damned mind, and then it happens. You kiss me. The food falls to the floor and the kiss doesn't stop and as my hands grab yours, I realize your ring's gone, so I pull away from you and you laugh. And you say, 'Did you really think I was gonna let that bitch keep me away from you forever?' or some other such line, it changed every time." She chuckled and looked up into his eyes. "I know it's cheesy, and not at all as thought out and romantic as yours, but every Wednesday night, El, I held my breath, waiting, hoping, and praying that it would happen."

"Then you started dating Trevor," Elliot said, sighing.

Olivia nodded. "And there were no more Wednesday nights. That's why I..."

"I know," Elliot said. "But we fixed it, didn't we?"

"Yeah," Olivia replied. "You know, we can fix everything else, too, El."

Elliot chuckled. "Nothing else is broken, Liv. Nothing that matters. Our lives have only kind of fallen over a little bit, they haven't really broken. Do you know why?"

Olivia smirked and tilted her head. "Why?" she asked.

"Because you are right there holding me and the kids up, and I will always be there to catch you before you hit the ground," he declared, kissing her. "Hey, what lie have you been telling yourself for five years?"

Olivia rolled her eyes and sighed. "That I wasn't in love with you," she said. "Big fat lie, that right there." She laughed and kissed him, enjoying the fact she could do that now.

ELliot chuckled, kissing her back. He pulled away and pointed at her, getting an idea. "Sunday, we should go to that furniture place on Sixty-Second, and see if they have cheap beds. Then we should find out if your landlord has any three-bedroom apartments available. If he doesn't..."

"Hold on, Speedy Gonzales," Olivia said with a chuckle. "What are you talking about?"

Elliot pulled her a little closer, and ran his fingers through her hair. "I'm talking about rebuilding our lives, together."

Olivia's cell phone rang just as her lips were about to touch Elliot's. He went in for the kill anyway, stealing the kiss before she answered. "Benson," she said into the cell with a light chuckle, looking at Elliot. "Yeah, all better. Oh, okay. Yeah. We'll be right there." She hung up with a snap and sighed. "Daddy Cragen's wondering where his two favorite kids are, and someone's here to talk to you about Kathy and the house."

"Please, never make us sound like brother and sister again," Elliot said, kissing Olivia one more time before they headed downstairs.

Olivia laughed and made a face. "Back to work, Stabler," she said. "Keep your hands and lips to yourself."

"I love you," Elliot said as she began to walk away.

Olivia stopped. Her breath caught in her throat as she turned around to face him. A slow smile spread across her lips as she blinked once and replied, "I love you, too."

**A/N: Do they find a new place? Will they be stuck in Olivia's tiny pad for a while? And what happens when Elliot confronts Kathy after she's been in detox? That won't be pretty.**


	9. Sober

**A/N: When you're sober, all of your mistakes become evident. **

**DISCLAIMER: SVU and its Characters belong to Dick Wolf. Storyline and dialogue, and narrative belong to TStabler©**

Olivia rolled over, restless, and her eyes shot open. She kept seeing the house burning before her eyes. Only in her nightmare, Elliot and the kids were still inside. She saw him, next to her, and clutched him tightly.

"Liv," Elliot's voice whispered in her ear, "What is it baby?"

Olivia shook her head. "Nothing. Go back to sleep."

Elliot pulled her closer, grazing her neck with his lips, moving his right hand from her waist up to her nipple, playing and squeezing. "Can't go back to sleep now," he mumbled against her skin.

Olivia let out a very soft, breathy moan. "What are you doing?"

"You," Elliot quipped. "I'm making you forget whatever it was that woke you up, Liv." He skimmed his left hand down her body and swiped his fingers up her slit, chuckling when he found how wet she was. "It's working isn't it?"

"God, yes," she whispered, leaning her head back onto his shoulder.

Elliot rolled them over slightly, pushing a finger inside of her as he dropped his lips to hers. He curled his finger, twisting it around, and deepened the kiss. The quiet, breathy pants were music to his ears, but he wanted more from her. He slipped another finger into her and began thrusting them, in and out, swiping his thumb over her clit. He smirked against her lips when she made tiny yelping noises, trying hard to be quiet for the sake of the sleeping children in the living room.

"El," she whispered. "Oh, God, El."

"Cum for me, Liv," he whispered to her, biting her bottom lip.

Olivia shook her head, and brought her right hand down to his busy fingers, stilling them. "Stop," she said, opening her eyes and looking into his blue sapphires.

Elliot raised an eyebrow, knowing what the look in her eyes meant, and smirked. "Yeah?" he asked, smugly.

"Yeah," Olivia nodded, smiling at him. She let go of his hand and watched as he licked his fingers, sucking them clean. She wrapped her arms around him and looked into his eyes as he slowly pushed into her, for the third time that night.

Elliot slammed his mouth down on hers, trying desperately to remain silent, as he sheathed himself inside of her, completely. He sighed, in pleasure and relief, once he was all the way in, and broke the kiss to look into Olivia's eyes. "I love you, Liv," he said, nuzzling her nose and rubbing her cheek with his.

"I love you, too, El," Olivia replied, already starting to clench around him.

Elliot kissed her deeply as he started to move, slow and deep, thankful that Olivia had woken up a full hour before the alarm was set to go off.

* * *

When the alarm finally blared, Olivia detached herself from Elliot, rolled out of the bed and padded into the bathroom. Elliot, not one to miss out on any opportunity to be with her, especially while she was naked, followed her. They took a very hot shower, because of the volcanic water and the incredible sex, and got dressed, playfully teasing each other. Olivia fixed his tie, kissed him, and they left the bedroom to rouse the kids.

Elliot shook Maureen, who was resting, not so peacefully, on the floor. "Come on, get up."

"Why?" Maureen grumbled, rolling onto her stomach and burying her head in the pillow.

"Because," Olivia said in the same whining manner, "You have to go to school, and your father and I have to go to work," she said with a laugh. "Come on Dickie, sweetie. Up."

The boy got up without a problem. As did his twin sister. Maureen grumbled and pulled the blanket over her head. "You guys can go without me," she garbled.

Kathleen popped up off of the couch and threw her pillow at her sister. "Get up, stupid," she spat. "You always make Dad late, Mo, and now you're gonna drag Liv down, too."

Maureen threw the pillow back at Kathleen, snarling, "You slept on the couch, meaning you actually slept! I've been up, tossing and turning, all night! Olivia's floor is the most ungodly uncomfortable..."

Elliot snapped. "Hey! You're damn lucky she's even letting us stay here! Get up! Get dressed, and as far as you're concerned, Mo, that floor is a goddamn waterbed!"

Maureen just looked at him, barely blinking, got up off the floor and walked into the bathroom.

"El," Olivia said, "Relax. The floor really is uncomfortable." She placed her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. She raised her eyebrows when she realized how tense he was, and looked up at him.

Elliot just shook his head. "She's never gonna thank you for this, baby," he said, sadly.

When all of the kids were dressed and fed, they were out the door.

* * *

They walked into the squadroom, and Cragen pointed and yelled. "Benson, you're with Munch. Stabler, you have to go down to Bellevue and talk to your wife and her doctor."

Elliot huffed. "Ex-wife," he said, rolling his eyes. "Munch, I swear to God, if anything happens to Liv..."

"Nothing will happen to her," Munch promised. "Go take care of things with Kathy."

Elliot nodded, licked his lips, looked at Olivia, and his eyes said everything she needed to hear. Hers said it all right backto him. He left, feeling uneasy about leaving his partner in someone else's hands.

* * *

"Elliot!" Kathy yelled, seeing her former husband walk into her room. She jumped off the chair and threw her arms around him. "Take me home. Please!"

Elliot pushed her off of him. "Kathy, we don't have a home! You burned the house down."

Kathy's eyes widened. "Oh, God! That wasn't a dream? I remember everything else. The divorce, you took the kids to...oh, God, you're really with Olivia, aren't you?"

Elliot said nothing, but he furrowed his brow. "How long, Kathy?" he asked, biting his lip.

"What?" she asked, sounding nervous.

Elliot scoffed. "How long have you been using? What else have you done that you've hidden from me? Trevor knew! How the hell did he know, and I didn't?"

"You were never around, Elliot, and when you were you never paid any attention to me," Kathy said, trying to blame Elliot.

"How. Long. Kathy?" he growled, his jaw clenched.

Kathy looked up at him and smirked. "Five. Years. Elliot." She shook her head. "When little miss perfect walked in to our lives, and you walked out of mine."

"Christ, Kathy," Elliot said, running a hand down his face. "Stop blaming Liv! You really have no idea what you did, do you?"

"I do," Kathy said. "Without the drugs clouding my brain, yeah. It's all coming back to me. I know what I've done, and I know I screwed up. But you can forgive me, right? You're Catholic, Elliot, you believe in the power of forgiveness."

"I'm Catholic," Elliot said. "But, I'm not God. You slept with Olivia's ex-fiancée, you brought drugs into my house and around my kids, and you then you burned that house down. Once you're out of this ward, Kathy, you're going to Rikers."

Kathy's eyes widened. "For what? Elliot, you can't..."

"Arson, Kathy. Dana saw you set the fire, she told the cops," Elliot told her.

"There's nothing you can do?" Kathy asked, pleading.

"There is," he said. "But I'm not going to do it. Get a good lawyer, Kathy."

"Call Trevor!" Kathy suggested, panicking.

"Okay, get a lawyer that isn't going down for conspiracy, fraud, and assaulting an officer," Elliot corrected with a smirk. "Don't call me, don't call Liv. Don't you dare try to contact the kids." He bolted from the room, not even looking back at Kathy over his shoulder.

* * *

When Elliot got back to the squadroom, Cragen, Melinda Warner, Munch and Fin were crowded around Olivia's desk. He couldn't see what was going on.

"Captain Cragen," Melinda said, "If you don't move out of the light, I can't possibly do this and I'll do more harm than good."

Fin spat, "Well if Munch would have been a man, Baby-Girl wouldn't be needin' stitches in the first place."

"What!?" Elliot yelled.

Munch looked up, then backed away from the desk, slowly. Cragen moved aside, Melinda repositioned herself and Elliot saw Olivia. She was holding an ice pack to her head and getting stitches in her left shoulder. "It wasn't Munch's fault. I ran after the prick, I tackled him, I didn't know he had a knife."

"See," Munch said, glaring at Fin. "Don't blame me."

Fin scoffed. "Man, you shoulda been the one runnin' your scrawny ass after the son of a bitch. You made her do it, in those boots, too."

Olivia laughed. "I appreciate the concern, Fin, but I didn't really give Munch a chance. I'm faster than he is. The only person who can keep up with me is..."

"Me," Elliot said. He narrowed his eyes when he caught Olivia's gaze, finally being noticed by her.

"Hi," she said, smiling. "You missed all the fun."

Elliot smirked. "I see that. How bad is it," he said, nodding at her shoulder.

"Not bad. I jumped back as he swiped at me, so it's more like a really bad paper cut than a knife-wound," Olivia said.

Melinda snipped the stitch and moved, so Elliot could see the neatly sutured cut. "Six stitches, right on the shoulder. If she keeps it covered and clean, the scar won't be bad."

"Mel," Olivia said, raising an eyebrow, "I'm hardly the type of girl that's worried about scars."

Elliot furrowed his brow. "I have a silly question. Why is Warner doing this, in the bullpen? Shouldn't Liv have been taken care of by an EMT at the scene as soon as this happened?"

Munch, Fin and Cragen all turned their heads and looked at Olivia.

"What?" she said, with wide eyes.

Munch chuckled. "Bad-Ass Benson, over here, decided that cuffing the sorry asshole, bringing him back here, interrogating him, knocking him around until she got a confession, and then having a cup of coffee were all more important than stitching up that cut."

"Hey! The coffee actually was," Olivia said. "You've all seen me when I go too long without caffeine. That ain't pretty."

Melinda rolled her eyes, laughing. "Goodbye, Detectives. Please, don't call me again today, unless the patient's dead." She walked out of the bullpen as the rest of the squad went back to work.

"So," Olivia said, softly. "How was Kathy?"

Elliot shrugged. "Sober. Liv, she knows what she did, and she actually thought I'd forgive her. So, apparently, the drugs weren't making her stupid, she's just naturally dumb."

Olivia laughed, and her jaw dropped. "Jesus, El, this is your ex-wife we're talking about!"

"Yeah," Elliot said, nodding. "Clearly, for the last five years, I've been pretty dumb, too." He sipped a bit of the coffee Olivia had left on his desk, gratefully, and then asked, "So, what woke you up in such a panic this morning?"

"Just a nightmare, El," Olivia said, shaking her head. "I'm over it."

Elliot walked over to her, ran his finger lightly over the gauze covering her new stitches and said, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Olivia asked, furrowing her brow.

"Everything," he said. "Not being there to prevent this, having to leave you unprotected because I had to deal with Kathy, Maureen's treating you like shit..."

Olivia cut him off. "El, this wasn't your fault, you need to deal with Kathy for the rest of your life, and Maureen has to figure out how to deal with her emotions. She's gonna be angry and upset and scared before she's gonna be thrilled and happy," she said, removing the ice pack from her head. "Now stop worrying and help me with the pile of paperwork on my desk."

Elliot laughed and shook his head. "I really wanna kiss you right now," he said.

"Can't," Olivia said, chuckling. "Sucks to be you." She winked at him, sat in her chair and handed him a report. "Read it, sign it, put it in the box."

Elliot took the file out of her hands and sat in his own seat. He started reading the report and his eyes widened. "Liv," he said. "What the hell is this?"

"Huh?" she asked, taking the file back from him. "Oh, uh, I didn't read these, yet, El. I don't...hey, Cap?"

Cragen walked over and said, "Yeah, Benson?" raising an eyebrow.

"When did this report come in?" Elliot asked, holding it up. "And is it being taken seriously?"

"Oh," Cragen said, taking the stapled papers from Elliot's hands. "Yeah, she called this morning, when she said she remembered it, and yes, it's being taken seriously. Munch and Fin are handling it."

Elliot looked at Olivia and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess, when you're sober, all of your mistakes come back to you. At least Kathy confessed before they hauled her in, that'll look good."

"Guess so," Olivia shrugged. "I'm really glad my mother was never sober," she said. "I don't think I'd wanna be on the receiving end of her confessions."

**A/N: What did Kathy remember she did? In the next installment, do the Stablers get out of Olivia's place? With or without her? **


	10. Deciding

**A/N: A decision she never thought she'd have to make, is finally made. **

**DISCLAIMER: SVU and its Characters belong to Dick Wolf. Storyline and dialogue, and narrative belong to TStabler©**

"Hey, this one looks good!" Olivia said from the bathroom doorway as Elliot shaved. "Five bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, full dining room, and it's in Queens. Kids wouldn't have to change schools."

"They go to Trinity Prep, Liv," Elliot said, carefully dragging the razor down his face. "They don't go to school in Queens."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "I meant Dickie's karate classes, Lizzie's dancing school, Maureen's piano..."

"Oh, yeah," Elliot said, chuckling. "Well, how much is it?"

Olivia looked at the paper and said, "Five hundred thou..."

"Stop talking," he said, turning to face her, half of his face still unshaven. "Where in Queens is it?"

"Jamaica, One-hundred-and-ninety-third Street. Honey, it's a corner house in a good community, El. Finished basement, finished attic, it's a really cute colonial with a lawn and..." she stopped, looking at his face. He was giving her a goofy smile. She wasn't sure why she was getting so excited. It's not like she was buying the house. "Never mind," she said, sighing. "Here. Just, uh, look at it later." She put the paper on the edge of the sink and walked out of the bathroom.

Elliot picked it up, flipped through it, and smiled. Olivia had circled every five-bedroom house in the city that looked to be in a safe, decent neighborhood. He looked in the mirror and sighed, then, as he finished the other half of his face. He was gonna miss being with her, every minute, of every day. He was gonna miss coming home to Olivia. Home. Olivia. The two were synonymous now. Then again, he realized, they always had been.

* * *

They walked into the sqaudroom, seemingly chipper, and Cragen shouted, "You two! You might wanna read Kathy's statement before Fin and Munch sign it. Make sure there's nothing you two wanna deny, or rebuke."

Elliot and Olivia looked at each other, nervous, as Elliot took the file out of Cragen's hand. Elliot read it first, and as he did, his eyes widened. She'd left out any mention of their relationship, but instead, told the detectives how Olivia had been more of a mother to her kids in recent years than she was, and how it was jealousy that led to her drug use. She also confessed to drug trafficking and solicitation, and one instance of sexual assault. But they knew that. They'd read it last night. He handed the file to Olivia, and turned to Cragen. "No, Cap. Everything Kathy said is true. Liv's been there for my kids, on countless occasions. I know it's not a partner..."

"No one said you couldn't be friends outside of work," Cragen said, emphasizing the word friends just a bit. "You care about each other. When one of you is in trouble, it's the other's job to get you out of it. That's why Benson has six people staying in her tiny, one bedroom apartment."

Elliot chuckled. "Yeah, it is."

"I didn't perform an emergency appendectomy on Lizzie!" Olivia yelled, holding up the file. "She was choking! I gave her the Heimlich! Are you sure Kathy's not still using?"

"Oh," Elliot said, smirking. "Must have missed that one."

Olivia made a face and hit him in the arm with the file. "Here," she said handing it to Fin. "Sign away. I'm not gonna deny being a large part of the Stablers' lives."

"No one's asking you to," Munch said. "In fact, uh, we're pretty surprised that it hasn't escalated to more that friendship already, now that you're both single."

"Munch!" Olivia scolded, shocked.

"What, Benson?" Munch asked, peering over his sunglasses at her. "You're hot, and you two are..."

Olivia interrupted. "Partners."

Fin scoffed. "If you two are just partners, then Munch is my father!"

"I could be, ya know," Munch said. "I was married four times. I'm pretty sure one of them was black."

Fin just gave Munch a look that said, "What the hell?" and glanced back at Elliot and Olivia. "You've gotta be aware of this thing hangin' between you two, but if you're not, we'll take your word for it. Oh, uh, Baby-Girl, a guy named Danny called for you. Said he got the wedding cancellation card in the mail, and he'd like to know if you're ready to date again. Here's his number." He held out a post-it to her.

Olivia's eyes went wide as she took the paper from Fin. "Yeah, I'm not calling Danny." She tossed the paper into to the trash can and shook her head. "That was two months of my life that would have been better spent watching paint dry."

"That bad, huh?" Elliot said, smirking.

"Have you ever seen that movie, _Open Water_?" Olivia asked.

Elliot nodded, sipping his coffee. "The two people just floating in the water for two hours, then they get eaten by sharks. That movie sucked. Most boring thing I've ever seen."

Olivia looked deeply into Elliot's eyes. "Compared to a night with Danny, that movie is like a day at fucking Disneyland."

"Ouch," Fin said, shaking with chuckles. "I'm sure the right guy will come along for ya, Baby-Girl."

"Eventually," Olivia said, sending a furtive glance at Elliot.

Cragen smirked and shook his head as he handed Elliot a pink slip. "You have a vic at Mercy General. Take your, uh, partner, and go get a statement and a rape-kit."

"Yeah," Elliot said, nodding. He looked at Olivia and they walked out, in step with each other. Waiting for the elevator, Elliot took a breath and let it out, harshly. "Liv, are you getting sick of us? Me and the kids, I mean. Are we wearing out our welcome?"

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Are you nuts? Why would you ask me that?"

Elliot cracked his neck and cleared his throat. "You seemed eager to get rid of us this morning, that's all."

"El, I'm eager to get your kids off of my floor, and my couch, and make sure they're comfortable and happy. I'm eager to see Maureen smile, instead of scowl at me like she does every morning, and if she's not around me, maybe that'll happen. I'm not eager to get rid of you," Olivia said, furrowing her brow. "I love having you all there. Really."

"So," Elliot said as the doors opened, stepping inside, "I mean, it might take a while to find a house, Liv, and when I do, I..."

"Stay as long as you need to stay," Olivia said, chuckling. "I just told you..."

"Liv," he interrupted. "I was gonna ask if...you wanted to...come with us," Elliot said, stumbling over his words.

Olivia was speechless. She was saved from answering, thankfully, when the doors opened. She followed Elliot out of the station and into the parking lot. She thought, as she got into the car, that she'd never considered moving out of her apartment for anyone. Trevor had been the one to move in with her, and they weren't even thinking about buying a house. She'd given up on Elliot long ago, so she'd never thought she'd need to move out to be with him and his kids, and he just asked her to do exactly that. She looked at him as he started the car, and she sighed, as the realization that her days living in a one bedroom sublet could be over hit her. "Yeah," she whispered.

"What?" Elliot asked, keeping one on her and the other on the road.

"Well, maybe," she said, louder. "You really want me to..."

Elliot interrupted her. "You and the kids, Liv," he reminded her, spouting it in a cocky manner. "All I'll ever need."

* * *

"How'd it go?" Cragen asked as his two best detectives walked in. "What the hell happened?"

Elliot, holding an ice pack to his eye, said, "I asked the father for a DNA sample."

"I told the mother her daughter tested positive for Chlamydia," Olivia added, holding tissues to the still-bleeding scratches on her arm.

"Damn," Fin said, shaking his head. "Did you guys arrest them for assault?"

Elliot shook his head. "I'm a father, Fin. I would have punched me, too."

"She didn't really assault me," Olivia said, shrugging.

"She scratched the shit out of you, Liv," Elliot said, making a stern face.

Olivia shook her head. "Anyway, we got a full statement and Warner has the rape-kit."

"We didn't get an ID, though. She just kept telling us that he had the wrong girl," Elliot said, handing Cragen a mini-recorder. "She said that once he knew he had the wrong girl, he stopped, panicked, and took off."

"He's still going after the right girl, then," Munch said, tilting his head. "Fin and I will take it. You two, take a nap, or some valium, or some vodka, or whatever."

"Gee, thanks, Munch," Olivia said, chuckling. "That's so very kind of you."

Munch saluted as he and Fin left. Cragen grabbed his coffee and said, "I have to make a phone call. Go take a nap." He walked into his office, closing the door behind him.

Elliot looked at Olivia and sang, "I think we're alone now..."

Olivia laughed. "Paula, Simon, and Randy would love you, El."

"A nap," Elliot said, throwing his ice pack onto his desk, "Actually, sounds really good."

Cragen stepped out of his office just in time to see Elliot leading Olivia up the steps to the cribs. "I'm calling you down here if I need you two," he yelled.

"We figured," Olivia said, without turning around. Once they were inside, with the door shut behind them, Olivia pulled Elliot's head toward hers. But she didn't kiss him. She examined the nice black eye that was forming. "That's not gonna be pretty,"

Elliot chuckled. "Neither are those scratch marks, baby," he retorted. He lifted his head a bit and caught her lips, kissing her deeply. "Did you mean it? Before, when you said you would move..."

"I said maybe, El," Olivia interrupted, moving toward a bunk. She sat, and as he plopped next to her and wrapped his arms around her she said, "I'm not sure. Your kids are okay with staying at my place because of the circumstances, El. If I move in with you, then that means it's..."

"Real," Elliot interjected. "We sleep in the same room, Liv. The kids know about us. And what we have is already very real."

Olivia kissed him, pushing him down flat on the bed. "I know that, I'm just worried about..."

"Maureen," Elliot interrupted again. He brushed Olivia's hair back as he looked up at her.

Olivia chuckled. "Why do I even bother talking if you know what..."

"You're gonna say?" Elliot finished, with a wink and a chuckle, as he kissed her. "Liv, Maureen is gonna have to get over it, baby. You're not just a fling, you're not a rebound, you're not going anywhere. She loves you, Liv, really. She just hates that she loves you, because she feels like she's betraying her mother by doing it. She's also pissed at me, honey. She hates that I didn't see what was happening to Kathy, because I was so wrapped up in..."

"Me," Olivia said, nodding in understanding.

Elliot kissed her again. "Now who's finishing whose sentences?" he asked, bending his head up to kiss her. "We belong together, baby. Admit it, you'll be just as lost going home without me as I'll be going home without you. We spent years denying that we always left a part of ourselves in the office, with each other. For the first time in my life, Liv, I feel whole when I go home at night. When I go home to you."

"Exactly how I..." she paused, shook her head and swallowed, looking into his eyes. She kissed him, passionately, as she curled into him. She rested her head on his chest and sighed in comfort. She let her eyes drift shut, and as she felt him kiss the crown of her head she said, "As soon as you find a house, I'll tell my landlord he needs to find a new tenant."

**A/N: Will moving out of her place, and in with the Stablers, be everything she dreamed? Or will it be an absolute nightmare? Review to find out!**


	11. Talking

**A/N: Ah, there's the Olivia we all know and love! But, then again, there's the Elliot we have come to adore, too. **

**DISCLAIMER: SVU and its Characters belong to Dick Wolf. Storyline and dialogue, and narrative belong to TStabler©**

As she stood in the doorway between her bedroom and the living room, watching the kids get ready for school, watching Elliot cook breakfast, her heart started to pound in her chest. Her head started to throb and her left hand began to twitch. "Oh, shit," she whispered to herself, as she backed up into the bedroom and plopped on the bed. She dropped her head into her hands and tried to breathe, but it wasn't easy. Why did she tell him she'd move in with him? Why did she tell him she'd pack up everything she owned and leave her apartment? Her apartment, her safe, tiny, cave-like, apartment.

One of his kids hated her. That right there should have been enough of a reason to say no, and stay here. Alone. Where it was safe.

"Livvy," Dickie said, knocking on the door. "Breakfast is ready!"

"Thanks, Little Stabler," Olivia responded, mechanically.

Dickie laughed. "Anytime, Big Benson."

Olivia smiled, then, at the nickname Elliot's only son had given her. She remembered it so clearly. She was helping him with a school project, something Kathy should have been doing, about London, England. He pointed to a picture of a large, castle-like clock-tower and asked her what it was called, and she said, "Big Ben."

"Oh, thanks," Dickie said. Then, as he wrote the caption under the picture on his poster, he wrote, "Big Benson." He looked up at Olivia and smirked. She remembered thinking how much he looked like his father when he did that, and she said, "Hey, Little Stabler, check your spelling, bud."

"Guess I was just thinking about you, Livvy," he said with a shrug. He crossed out the "S-O-N" but the name stuck. They've been "Little Stabler" and "Big Benson" ever since.

Olivia laughed to herself as she recalled the memory, wiping away the nervous and scared tears that had fallen. Another knock broke her out of her reverie, and Elliot opened the door. "Liv, baby," he said, "It's getting cold."

"I'm not very hungry, El," Olivia replied, sniffling.

Elliot, concerned, pushed into the room and sat on the bed, wrapping an arm around her. "What's wrong, baby?" he asked, softly, as he swiped away a tear with his thumb.

"Nothing," she said, trying to smile.

"Come on," Elliot scoffed. "Olivia Benson does not cry over nothing."

Olivia chuckled once, then said, "I'm scared, El. I'm sorry, but I am. I don't know if I can…"

"Hold on," Elliot said, stopping her before she could panic. "Listen to me, Liv. I know you, and I know what it's gonna take for you to trust this, and I know that I'm asking a lot. But I promise, there is nothing to be scared of, Liv. You and I are not…"

"El," Olivia said, softly, almost shyly. "I've never been this terrified before. I'm gonna screw this up, I know I am, and I can't lose you. You're everything I've got and…"

Elliot's heart broke. He pressed a finger to her lips and said, "Liv, baby, you're everything I have, too. You and my kids, baby. I'm just as scared as you are, but I'm even more afraid of giving you up now. I can't quit now, not knowing that what we have is fucking perfect. I'm not letting you run from this, Liv. No matter how hard you try. You don't wanna move in with me, yet? Fine, you'll have to deal with my little mongrels on your floor until you're ready to do it."

Olivia looked into his eyes, finding that he was dead serious, and she shook her head. "You would really keep them here just to…"

"Keep us all together, yes," Elliot said, with a single nod. "Liv, my kids would be lost without you. The twins especially, Liv. You have no idea what you mean to them. And me? I'd die without you."

"I know that," Olivia said, recalling the conversation they had in the cribs last night. "I'm just…"

"Being you," Elliot said. "You didn't do this with Trevor. You did this with Dean, but it more of a pissed off panic than a scared one. But not with Trevor. You were gonna marry the guy, Liv, why…"

Olivia sighed, "I didn't love him, El. It was a marriage of convenience. Of desperation. He was the one who was supposed to make me forget all about you, and it would have worked if…"

"It never would have worked," Elliot chuckled, conceitedly. "We would have still worked together, and I would have convinced you to have an…what's that look for?"

Olivia turned away from him and said, softly, "I was gonna transfer."

"Oh, my God, Liv! What?" he asked, sounding angry and shocked.

"Well, I'm not now! Keep your pants on!" Olivia yelled, slapping his arm.

Elliot smirked, then said, "I'd rather take them off, actually, but you were really just gonna walk away from me, altogether, after you married him?"

Olivia nodded. "I didn't trust myself to stay with you, El. With good reason, apparently," she laughed.

"See, you're laughing," Elliot said, with a chuckle of his own. "Are we good? Are you done freaking out on me? Cause, I'm not going anywhere. I'm a stubborn asshole, Liv. You know that."

Olivia laughed again, dropping her head to his shoulder. "Yeah. We're good. I'm not going anywhere either. I can't date anyone else after you, El, I'd just end up cheating on them."

"Damn right," Elliot said, smirking smugly. "Kiss me."

Olivia tilted her head up and met his lips, fiercely kissing him, until another knock and a creaking-open door interrupted them.

"Oh, gimme a break!" Maureen yelled. "Can you two come up for air long enough to eat? We're all gonna be late!" She turned and left in a huff.

Elliot kissed Olivia again as they got off of the bed. "After everything you've done for her, Liv, I just don't get it." He pulled her out of the room, toward the table, and they ate quickly, rushing to get the kids to school and get to work on time.

* * *

Their day had been long, and exhausting, and when they got home, all Elliot wanted to do was cuddle with Olivia, kiss her, and flip through real estate books to find a house. They were on the loveseat, trying to be quiet, as the kids slept on the couch and floor around them. "What about this one?" Elliot asked, tilting the paper toward Olivia, who was lying, face up, on top of him. He had his arms and legs wrapped around her.

"Why are you asking me?" Olivia asked, raising an eyebrow.

Elliot smirked. "You've been asking me, Liv. It's only fair."

Olivia put her own book and highlighter down in her lap and looked at him blankly. "It's your house, El!"

Elliot laughed and shook his head. "No, baby, we're making this decision together. It's gonna be our house, or have you forgotten that?"

Olivia smirked at him. "I haven't forgotten, I just didn't think…"

"From start to finish, this is gonna be our house. Liv, every decision I make, I wanna make with you," Elliot declared. "So, again, I ask, what about this one?"

"It's purple," Olivia said, making a face.

"What's wrong with purple?" Elliot asked, furrowing his brow.

"El, honestly. Can you see us living in a purple house? Two cops, with horrid tempers? Coming home to that everyday would…"

"Piss us the fuck off, you're right," Elliot chuckled. "We can always paint it." He just got a very annoyed look in return and kissed her as he said, "Okay, no purple houses."

"This looks nice," Olivia said, holding her book across to him.

Elliot gave her a narrow-eyed expression. "It's in the Bronx, baby."

"Oh," Olivia said, squinting her eyes. "We have the lights off, how did you even see that?"

Elliot laughed, kissing her again. "I looked at that one already," he said with a chuckle.

Olivia hit him with the book and laughed as he kissed her again and that's when they heard it.

"Okay, you two are really driving me up a wall," Maureen whispered.

Elliot looked apologetically at Olivia and then peered over at his daughter, looking back at him from the floor. "Maureen, what is the problem?"

"You're letting her help you pick our house? She's moving in with us? God, Dad, why don't you just put a ring on her finger! Really rush things!" Maureen whispered, harshly.

"Have you been looking through my sock drawer?" Elliot asked. He saw Maureen's eyes widen, then saw Olivia's eyes narrow, and he said, "Wow, I'm, uh, I'm kidding. That was a joke."

"Not funny, Dad," Maureen spat.

"I wouldn't mind," Dickie's voice rang out. The twelve year old sat up on the couch, narrowing his eyes at his sister. Olivia gasped at the sight, he truly was a little version of Elliot. "Mo, I love you, I do, but Livvy has been more a mother to any of us in the last five years than Mom has been. Granted, I was seven when I met her, but that doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talking about. Look at where we are, Maureen! Are we in Uncle Frank's ten-bedroom house? No, he didn't want us there. Are we staying with our grandparents? No, because since Mom went nutso they don't want anything to do with us. Mo, we are on the floor of Livvy's apartment, which barely has enough room for her in it."

With her head on the pillow, and her eyes still closed, Kathleen added, "Stop blaming her for Mom going crazy, Maureen. Mom's only blaming Olivia because she doesn't want to face the fact that she did this all herself. Mom burned our house down, Mo, and Olivia was there to help us scoop up the ashes. I say, hand the woman a diamond, Daddy, cause starting tomorrow, I'm calling her Mom. Oh, and I like purple. Don't knock the purple."

"God!" Maureen yelled. "Don't you guys see anything wrong with that?"

"Wrong with what?" Lizzie asked, rubbing her eyes. "The only thing wrong with loving someone, Mo, is denying that you do, and treating them badly because you're afraid to love them. If we let fear stop us from doing everything of which we are afraid, then we would never do anything worthwhile at all, would we?"

Olivia bit her bottom lip as she glanced at Elliot and chuckled. The little girl had a point.

"I'm not…" Maureen began, then paused, meeting Olivia's eyes. She felt a wave of guilt and a horrible sadness. "I'm not afraid to love her," Maureen finally said. "I'm afraid…" she stopped again, lowering her voice. "To let her love me."

Olivia's eyes widened and she got off of Elliot and walked over to Maureen, sitting down on the floor beside her. "Mo, I'd hate to break it to you, but you're worst fear has already been realized, sweetie."

"What?" Maureen asked, scoffing.

Olivia, hesitantly, brushed Maureen's hair back and said, "I already love you, Mo. I have, since the moment I met you. You're so important to me and…"

"Wait," Maureen said, squinting. "After everything I said to you? Everything I did, you still love me? Why? How?"

Olivia gave the girl a sad smile, and said the words that she had always hoped her own mother would say to her, but never did. "Maureen, honey, love is unconditional. There is nothing you could say or do that would make me not love you anymore. I understand that your father and I…will take some getting used to, and I'm not trying to replace your mother."

"That's just the thing, Liv," Maureen said, tears running down her cheeks. "You already have, and I thought that you would do the same thing she did."

"Oh, honey, I'm not gonna burn down my apartment," Olivia joked, trying to cheer up the teenager.

"No," Maureen said with a light chuckle. "I thought you'd hate me. I was just trying to make it easier on myself, if I made it seem like I hated you, I thought it would hurt less."

Olivia's eyes welled up with tears. "Your mother does not hate you, honey."

"She does," Maureen said, crying. "She told me. She said that I'm the whole reason she and Daddy even got married. She blamed me for it, for ruining her life. She said I was a mistake, and…"

"Woah," Elliot interjected. He had to stop her. Olivia's eyes were red, and puffy, just like his daughter's, and Maureen was starting to sound an awful lot like Olivia. He couldn't take it anymore. Seeing two of the five people he loved most cry was killing him. "Mo, baby," he said, getting to his knees in front of his daughter. "You were not a mistake. You were a, uh, surprise, that's for sure, but you are not a mistake. You are the light of my life. All of you are. And yes, you are the reason your mother and I got married, but honey, that was our choice. You didn't do anything to deserve the blame. We kept you, Mo. And we wanted you, and we both love you very much. Your mother is just, well, she's fucking crazy, okay?" Elliot couldn't find a nice way of putting it. "I love you, Mo. I love all of you, and Olivia loves you like you were her own kids. And she's not going anywhere, and I promise she's not gonna stop loving you."

"I'm sorry, Liv," Maureen cried, throwing her arms around Olivia.

Olivia hugged the girl tightly, closing her eyes, as her own tears spilled over her cheeks. "Mo, honey, don't apologize. Believe it or not, I totally understand. More than you could possibly know," she whispered to Maureen.

Elliot, trying to control his own emotions, pulled both girls into his arms.

"Oh, no way are you doing the family hug without me," Dickie yelled, as he hopped up off his couch and threw himself into the embrace.

Lizzie cried, "Don't leave me out," and rose to her feet, running over and wrapping her arms around everyone.

Kathleen groaned, popping off the floor. "Fine," she grumbled. "But only because it's a family hug." She crawled over and plopped herself, limply, over Elliot's back.

"Family hug?" Olivia asked, muffled against Maureen and Dickie.

"Yeah," Maureen said, sniffling. "Dontcha get it, Liv? You're a Stabler now."

Dickie chuckled and said, "Or, you will be, once Dad gives you that thing he's hiding in his sock drawer."

Five pairs of eyes slowly focused on him, one pair of those eyes, a bright blue pair, was glaring, evilly. "Hey," Dickie said. "That, uh, that was a joke. I was kidding."

"My God," Olivia said, giving the boy a shove. "You are your father's son."

Elliot smirked as he and his family shared their moment, thinking about finding a house for his family, and what he would do if Olivia ever really did go through his sock drawer.

**A/N: Crisis averted! Or is it? They move in the next chap! Ready for it?**


	12. Discovering

**A/N: Maybe love really is all you need. Until your ex finds out about it, that is. Then it becomes clear that it was all you ever had to begin with.**

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue, and plot of this story.**

"I'm not sure I understand," Alex Cabot said, furrowing her brow behind her glasses. "Do you have what I need to arraign him or not?"

Olivia sighed, folding her arms. "Alex, this case isn't exactly in our hands anymore. The perp, he, uh, he's wanted by a few other people, too."

"Who?" Alex snapped, now pissed off. "If you two would have just done your fucking jobs…"

"Woah, Alex!" Elliot barked. "Don't you dare! We had no idea the feds were on this case when he stepped into our territory, so don't blame us! We did our fucking job!"

Alex sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "And when can I expect to see…"

"Good afternoon," a man's voice interrupted.

Olivia's eyes widened as she turned around, slowly. "Porter," she gasped.

"Nice to see you, too, Olivia," Dean Porter said with a smirk. "Where's my guy?"

Olivia was about to say something when her phone rang. She held up a finger, telling Dean to wait, as she flipped open the cell. "Benson," she said. "Oh, um, that's not…that's not good. We measured the…hold on." She handed her phone to Elliot and said, "The new couch won't fit against the wall in the living room. The movers want to know what you want them to do with it."

Alex and Dean looked at each other, then each raised an eyebrow at Olivia. "Olivia," Dean said, his smirk now gone, "Something you care to share?"

"Um, nope," Olivia said, shaking her head. "And he's not your guy, Porter, he's our guy. We've got requests pending to have the entire thing handed over to us and…"

"Liv," Elliot interrupted, "They want to know if we care where they put the bookcase, because if they move that, then the couch will fit."

"I don't care, El, I just want the damn couch in the fucking living room," she said, running a hand through her hair.

"Okay, Liv," Elliot chuckled and went back to his conversation as Olivia continued fighting with Porter.

Dean furrowed his brow and folded his arms. "What is he talking about?"

"None of your business," Olivia barked. "You can question him, but you can not take him with you. Not until a judge says that…"

"Are you moving in with him?" Dean asked, cutting her off.

Olivia's eyes widened and she tilted her head. "Porter, knock it off and work with me here. Go interrogate Logan Nichols and then…"

"Why aren't you answering me?" Dean asked, stepping forward.

"Because it's a ridiculous question," Olivia said, taking a step back. "Go!" she yelled, pointing toward the interrogation room.

Dean leaned in toward Olivia and whispered, "You'll move in with him, someone you aren't even dating, but you wouldn't move in with me? I heard about you and Trevor, Olivia. You dumped his ass the minute he wanted a real commitment, too." He narrowed his eyes and said, "So, you can only make a move like that with someone you don't stand a chance with? Is that it? Becuase you think he's safe, huh? Or are you finally getting a chance at what you wanted after all these years, now that Kathy's out of the picture?"

Olivia, tempted to tell him how wrong he was, smirked. "Trevor and I broke up because he cheated on me, with at least ten different people. Thanks for the sympathy. I wouldn't move in with you, Dean, because you and I weren't gonna last. As for me and Elliot, you have no idea what's going on, so why don't you just march your federal agent ass into the interrogation room, ask Nichols your questions, and get the fuck out of my squadroom."

Dean, backing up, hung his head. "Trevor cheated on you?" he asked, sounding somewhat sorry.

"Yeah," Olivia said. "A lot."

"What a fucking idiot," Dean spat, shaking his head, then he picked up his briefcase and walked into the interrogation room.

* * *

Elliot and Olivia walked into their new house, both irritated and angry, and kicked off their shoes into the foyer closet. They hung up their jackets, silently fuming, and plodded into the living room. "Oh, what the fuck is this?" Elliot yelled, throwing up his hands. "You wanna gimme a hand, Liv?"

The couch was set up on an angle, the carpet was half unfurled, and the coffee table and bookcase were still in the middle of the floor.

"We didn't pay those guys yet, did we?" Olivia asked, helping Elliot push the couch back against the wall.

"No," Elliot grunted, "And we're not going to, Liv. Look at this place!"

Olivia kicked the carpet, unrolling it the rest of the way. Then she straightened out the coffee table. "This was really the last thing we needed to come home to," she spat. "I can't believe Porter! The arrogant twit actually took that case right out from under our…"

"Actually," Elliot interjected, sliding the bookcase into the corner of the room beside the fireplace, "He did us a favor. We didn't really need the aggravation of finding twelve victims, getting them to talk and testify, then linking the bastard to three murders."

Olivia fell into the couch. "Maybe," she said with a sigh as her head fell back.

"We're in our house," Elliot said, as if he'd just noticed. "Our house, Liv. Yours and mine, baby. Can you believe it?"

Olivia, her eyes closed, mumbled, "I'll believe it when I curl up in our new bed."

"Aw, baby," Elliot said, chuckling as he plopped next to her, "I'm sorry for yelling at you." He lifted her tired legs into his lap, and without her asking he began to rub her feet.

"I love you," she moaned, her head lolling to the side.

Elliot laughed. "I love you, too, Liv."

"And you yell at me at work all the time," Olivia said, letting another moan escape as Elliot rubbed her foot harder. "I yell right back. It's what we do."

"Come here," Elliot said, softly.

Olivia scooted closer and leaned into him, meeting his lips as he continued to give her a footrub. She moaned into his mouth as her hand softly grasped the back of his head.

Elliot, kissing her back eagerly, ran his hands up her legs and pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her. He left his right arm around her waist and skimmed his left hand over her chest. He was flicking open her buttons when there was a loud knock on the door. "Do not move," Elliot groaned against her lips. "Don't even think about moving," he warned, pointing at her as he pushed her legs off of him and got off the couch. He shifted his pants and untucked his shirt, hoping to hide his rather painful erection. He walked over to the door and opened it, then narrowed his eyes. "What the hell do you want? How did you even get my address?"

"I just want to apologize," Dean said. "I, uh, got your new address from the lovely woman at the front desk. Since I'm a federal agent, she didn't ask me why."

Elliot, folding his arms, asked, "Apologize for what?"

"Stealing your case, fighting so damn hard so you wouldn't get the glory," Dean said. "Are you gonna invite me in?"

"Who is it, El?" Olivia asked, walking over to him. "Oh, hi."

"Olivia," Dean said, raising an eyebrow, "Awfully late for you to be at your partner's house, isn't it?"

Elliot jumped in before she could answer. "It's her house, too, Porter," Elliot said, a smug smirk on his lips. "Our house," he added wrapping an arm around her, pulling her closer.

"So, asking you to dinner is probably pointless," Dean said, looking at Olivia.

Olivia nodded. "Probably," she said. "Well, uh, definitely. We're pretty damn serious."

"When, uh, when did this happen?" Dean asked, leaning against the side of the house. "I mean, I'm not surprised, I just want to know how long it took you to realize what everyone else has known for years."

"It's recent," Elliot said, not willing to divulge the torrid details to Dean Porter of all people. "And what do you mean, everyone else has known for years?"

"Maybe not everyone," Dean sighed. "I knew, at least. The way she'd look at you when we were all out together, the way you'd look at her when you didn't think anyone was looking. I knew that you were the reason she wouldn't move in with me, I knew that I'd never be enough for her because she always found some way to make everything about you." His voice had gotten cold and his face had sharpened.

Olivia's eyes widened. "Dean, don't…"

But Dean kept talking. "She walked into the fucking fire for you, a thousand times, taking the blame for shit so you wouldn't lose your badge. You know the Frederickson case? They were gonna suspend you for knocking his head into the wall during the interrogation. Who do you think pulled your ass out of the water with that one?"

"Dean, stop!" Olivia begged, closing her eyes.

Dean narrowed his eyes, even more, and glared at Elliot, ignoring Olivia. "When you were sent home for emotional distress during the Thompson case, Olivia was up all night, on the goddamn phone with every psychiatrist in the city, begging them to take a look at your statement. She didn't stop until every single one of them faxed over a handwritten letter declaring that you were having a perfectly normal reaction and could return to work."

Elliot's brow furrowed. "I thought Cragen…"

"No, that was Olivia," Dean spat. "Eight months, Stabler. For eight goddamn months I stayed with her, watching her risk everything for you, over and over again. For eight months, I had to pretend I didn't care! I had to pretend I didn't see the way her eyes lit up when you walked into the goddamn room. And when I asked her to leave the unit and work with me at the agency, and I pulled out that ring…"

"What?" Elliot barked, turning to Olivia. "You never told me that's why you got pissed off at him!"

Dean continued, "I offered her a chance at a real life, a chance to do something good for herself. But instead of taking that chance, she didn't just say 'no,' she said, 'I can't do that to Elliot!' She was more concerned about you, even when I was throwing myself at her!"

"Dean, please, you've said enough," Olivia said, clutching Elliot's hand, praying he wouldn't be pissed. This was all stuff he was never supposed to know.

"Have I? I haven't told him about the mind-boggling proposal you got from Trevor, yet! Did you tell Elliot the real reason you said 'yes?' Did you tell him the real reason you agreed to transfer once you were married?"

Elliot, staring at Olivia, said, "I think she did. Didn't you?"

Olivia looked at him, sighed, and said, "El, please, I don't even think you wanna know about…"

"Your wife," Dean said, harshly. "Stabler, your wife asked Olivia to let you go. Your wife told Olivia that she would leave and take the kids with her if Olivia didn't go away. So, when Trevor asked, she said yes and informed Cragen she was gonna file for a transfer. But I guess none of that matters now, right?"

"It matters," Elliot said, nodding, still staring at Olivia. "It all matters. Liv, why didn't you tell me any of that?"

Olivia shook her head. "I thought I knew how you'd react. And at the time, El, we were just partners. Just friends. It wasn't my place to…"

"You were really going to marry Langan and leave, destroy your life, because you wanted to protect me?" Elliot asked, astonished, interrupting her.

"I was," Olivia said. "Yes."

Elliot brushed her hair back and said, "You know if I had known, if you would have told me the second Kathy asked you to do that, I would have left her in a heartbeat."

"I know that now, El," Olivia said, scoffing. "I was just doing what I thought I had to do to keep you…"

Elliot pulled her toward him, kissing her, before she could finish her sentence. "It really has always been me, hasn't it?"

Olivia nodded with a laugh. "Yeah, El. You're not mad? Not about any of that?"

"No, baby," Elliot said, surprised she'd even ask that question. "I'm a little upset that I had to hear it all from Porter, but I'm not mad. I'm sure if you talked to Kathy you'd hear some similar stories," he said with a smirk.

"I really don't wanna talk to Kathy," Olivia said, rolling her eyes.

Elliot chuckled as he kissed her again, then turned to tell Dean to leave, but he was already gone. He closed the door, locking it, then turned to look at Olivia. "I'm pretty sure all the kids are asleep," he said, stepping closer to her.

Olivia raised an eyebrow and smirked. "It is almost midnight, so that's probably true."

Elliot pulled her into his arms, kissed her, and trailed light pecks down to her neck, behind her ear. He said, "So, how about you and I go up to our new bedroom, get into that new bed, and I will make you forget that Dean Porter and Trevor Langan ever existed."

Olivia tilted her head and furrowed her brow. "Who?" she asked.

Elliot chuckled. "Is that your way of telling me I've already done that?"

"El, you did that the night you first told me you loved me, up in the cribs," Olivia said, running a hand through his hair.

"You really are the only woman I've ever really, thouroughly, and completely loved, Liv. This is what love is," Elliot told her, kissing her again. "And I've never felt like this before, baby. I swear."

Olivia got chills as he said that, and brushed her lips across his again. "Me either, El. You have to know that, especially now," she said, chuckling.

"I wanna hold onto this, to you, forever," Elliot declared, giving her a short, deep kiss.

"So do I, baby," Olivia said, looking into his eyes. "I love you."

Elliot, leading her upstairs to their new room, stopped her on the step and said, "I love you, too, honey." He brushed her hair behind her ear, kissed her again, and pulled her into their bedroom. They would, at least, have one night of intense, passionate romance before work, and something else, would get in the way.

**A/N: What was Dean trying to pull? He had to know that it would just push them further together! Anyway, what happens at work? You want more?**


	13. Choosing

**A/N: Work threatens to pull them apart, and does. Or does it?**

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue, and plot of this story.**

"You know Porter did this, don't you?" Elliot barked, running a hand through his hair. "He's pissed off at us, bitter and jealous, and this is his way of ripping us apart!"

"El," Olivia said, running a hand over his shoulder as they stood on the roof of the station, "I'll only be gone a few days, and I won't be alone. Fin is..."

"Fin! He's not your partner, Liv! I am! Porter knows that, and he fucking deliberately asked for you and Fin! Not you and me!" Elliot was yelling now, unable to control his anger.

Olivia flinched as he screamed. "El, please, I..."

"Don't tell me to calm down, don't tell me to stop yelling, and don't tell me I'm fucking overreacting! He was trying to get me mad at you last night, and when it didn't fucking work, he used a federal kidnapping case to split us up!"

"El! A known pedophile took five second-graders from their classroom and drove across the country with them!" Olivia yelled back. "You want me to stay here and do nothing because you think it's some scheme my ex-boyfriend..."

"I know it is, Liv! Watch, you're gonna get there and Fin is gonna go one way while Porter takes you another way!" he interrupted, fuming.

Olivia took a step toward him and cupped his face. "Elliot Stabler," she said, giving him a look that could kill. "You have nothing to worry about. If he tries anything he's getting punched, El. I'm yours. Just like you are mine. And nothing, no one, is going to ever change that. Especially not Dean Porter. I'm just going to help them get this guy, and then I'm coming home to you."

Elliot, silent, cupped her face right back and pulled her in for a deep kiss. "Be careful, baby," he whispered to her. "Come back to me."

"You know I will, El," Olivia whispered back, brushing her lips over his again.

Against her lips, as he deepened the kiss, Elliot asked, "When are you leaving?"

"Five O'clock," Olivia mumbled into his mouth.

Elliot smirked, pulling her backward into a walled, shadowed part of the roof. "Plenty of time," he whispered.

"What?" Olivia chuckled, pulling away from the kiss slightly.

"Five days, baby. Five days without you? I can't handle that. I'm making love to you, right here, right now," Elliot declared. "And I'm sending you off smelling like me, sex and everything Porter'll never have." Elliot unbuttoned Olivia's shirt, brushing it open, gasping at the sight of her bra-clad form. "I'll never get used to seeing you like this," he whispered as he kissed her. His hands moved lower as they kissed and he pulled her pants and panties down at once, trickling his fingertips along her wet folds.

Olivia, lost in the kiss and his teasing, unbuckled his pants, shoving them down along with his boxers, only just passed his hips. "I'll never get used to not seeing you like this," she said, seductively, licking behind his ear before nibbling on his lobe.

Elliot leaned back against the high ledge and pulled Olivia up, wrapping her around his waist. He eased himself into her making them both shudder and moan. "This has to last us five fucking days," Elliot said, moving into and out of her slowly, "We're gonna be here for a while."

"God, El, baby, I love you," Olivia purred, nuzzling his nose and neck and he hit into her.

"I love you, Liv," he replied. Then his lips crashed into hers, and he held her tightly, knowing the next five days would be hell.

* * *

"Where the hell are they?" Cragen boomed. "It's ten-to-Five, Porter and Randall will be here soon to pick you up," he said to Fin.

Elliot and Olivia walked in, breathless and a bit sweaty. "Sorry," Olivia said. "Went out for lunch and, uh, stopped a one-thirty in progress."

"Where the hell did you go for lunch? Queens?" Cragen barked. "It was ten in the goddamn morning the last time anyone saw either of you! And where is this perp you said you stopped?"

"Uh, we handed him over to the two-nine," Eliot said. "We didn't haul the guy in here. Wasn't out jurisdiction."

"Whatever," Cragen snapped.

As Cragen was about to walk away, Porter and his partner walked into the bullpen. Porter gave Elliot a smug look, nodding at him. "You two ready? he asked, looking at Olivia and Fin. "We have bags packed with standard gear and black suits, for both of you."

"Yeah, we're cool," Fin said, grabbing his wallet out of his desk drawer.

"Say goodbye to Stabler, Olivia," Porter said with narrowed eyes.

Olivia smirked. "Already did," she said. She grabbed his hand, looked into his eyes, and smiled. "I'll call," she said.

"I know," Elliot said, smiling back at her. Fin and Olivia followed the agents out of the room, and Cragen and Munch stared at Elliot. "What?" Elliot asked, noticing they were staring.

Cragen ran a hand through his thinning hair and said, "Nothing. I'm gonna forget I saw that."

"Saw what?" Elliot asked, his eyes widening. He was pretty sure that Olivia and Elliot didn't give anything away just then.

"Exactly," Cragen said, shaking his head. "Can I talk to you? In my office," he commanded, leading Elliot into the chamber.

Elliot sat in a leather chair and looked up. "Yeah?" he asked, gulping.

"Is there something going on between the two of you that I should know about?" Cragen asked, folding his arms.

"If you're asking that question, then you know the answer," Elliot said, sounding almost cocky. "How long have you known?" he asked, leaning back in the chair, waiting for his world to crumble again.

Cragen sighed. "I saw you kiss her when your house was burning down. And I thought it was a little odd that she had your whole family on her floor. I've had partners that wouldn't even give me a coughdrop if I needed one outside of work. I see the way you two look at each other, the way you have looked at each other for years. Recently, those looks have gotten pretty intense. How serious is this, Stabler?"

"Serious," Elliot said, dropping his eyes. "I think I might be more serious than she is, but we're very serious."

"Not anymore," Cragen said, rising off his desk.

"Excuse me?" Eliot said, his eyes popping open wide and his voice growing louder.

Cragen pointed a finger and said, "You can not expect me to break SVU policies and keep internal affairs off your asses. You have a choice to make, Stabler. The girl or the partner."

"I...Cap, I can't...she's both! I want both!" Elliot yelled, rising out of the chair.

"Can't always get what you want!" Cragen yelled back, narrowing his eyes, putting Elliot in his place. "She gets back on Friday, Stabler. I need a decision by Thursday night."

Elliot ran a hand down his face. "What am I choosing between here, exactly?"

"You can not be her lover and her partner," Cragen said, definitively. "You either work with Munch, transfer out of SVU, or end it with her in a way that would still make it possible to do your damn jobs without crying or fighting or killing each other."

"There's nothing you can do for us?" Elliot asked, pleading. "I can't do this job without her by my side as my partner, and I can't live without her by my side as my wife! Don't do this, Cap."

"You should have thought of that before you decided to hop into bed with your fucking partner, Elliot," Cragen screamed. "You knew the risks. You knew the consequences. You knew..."

"Cap," Elliot said, gritting his teeth. "We both risked a hell of a lot more than our jobs when we got together, and we made it. We can still work together, I think we proved that! We've been together this long without a problem and..."

"Because I didn't know about it!" Cragen snapped, interrupting. "Now that I do, for certain, I can't look away. Decide. By Thursday. Talk to her about it when she calls you. Now, get back to work."

Elliot, not thinking with anything but his furious anger, unhooked his badge and unholstered his gun. He dropped them both on Cragen's desk and said, "Decision made. Don't expect her to stick around either. Thanks a lot, Dad." He stormed out of the office, and out of the bullpen, leaving Cragen in shock.

Cragen picked up Elliot's gold shield, turned it over in his hands, and sighed. His eyes filled with tears as he said to himself, "What the hell have I just done?"

* * *

"I don't know," Eliot said, spinning the paint roller around in his hand. "It might be too dark, huh?"

Dickie shook his head. "No, Dad. The couch and chairs are beige, so the walls behind them should be darker.

"Yeah," Elliot said, agreeing. "We're only painting the bottom half black, anyway. The top's gonna be bright white, like Liv wanted."

"Very contemporary," Kathleen said, smiling. "I like it."

"You think your moth...Liv. You think Liv will?" Elliot asked, wiping his forehead.

"Dad," Lizzie said, looking down from her place on the ladder. "Were you just gonna call her our mother?"

Elliot nodded. "I think I was. I'm sorry, guys, I just..."

"It's cool," Maureen said, smiling. "Katie calls her 'Mom,' now anyway. I think we all should get used to it, right?"

Elliot chuckled as he kissed his daughter's paint speckled forehead. "Yeah. You definitely should."

"Not that this week hasn't been awesome, but when are you going back to work?" Dickie asked, resuming his painting.

"That's what I'd like to know!" a voice yelled from the doorway.

"Mom!" Kathleen yelled, dropping her roller into the paint tray and running over.

Dickie and Lizzie followed, wrapping painty arms around her. "How was your trip?" Lizzie asked.

"I hated Seattle," Olivia said, kissing each kid and hugging them tight. "I missed you guys so much!"

Maureen, a white paintbrush in her hand, said, "We missed you, too," she paused, "Mom."

Olivia looked stunned, and she felt tears in her eyes. She couldn't speak. She just nodded. "El," she said, choking back the sob that was in her throat. "Can you gimme a hand with something?"

"Sure," Elliot said, knowing that it was just an excuse to talk to him alone. He followed her out to the driveway and when they stopped by the car, he pulled her to him, kissing her passionately.

Olivia moaned, wrapping her hand around his neck, but pulled away and looked into his eyes. "You quit? Without talking to me? Without telling me? I called you, every day! You could have mentioned it!"

"I got really pissed off, baby," Elliot said, trying to calm her down. "Cragen wasn't even gonna try to find a way to get us out of this and he made me choose. I can't work without you, and I'm not giving up our life. Nothing is more important to me than you and my kids. Our kids."

Olivia lowered her eyes, turned, and reached into her deep coat pocket. "These belong to you," she said, handing him his gun and badge.

"Liv, I can't go back there. Cragen's gonna...wait, this isn't my badge," he said, handing the shield back to her.

"Yes it is," Olivia said, giving him a small, unsure, smile, "Sergeant Stabler."

Elliot looked at her and tilted his head. "Are you serious?" he asked looking at the new, shiny badge. "But I thought Munch was..."

"He is. He's the first SVU Detective to be promoted to Sergeant, but not the only," Olivia said. "Cragen put it on the books that you two are partners, but he's made it clear that he'll probably never send you out on a call together. Which is good, because Fin and I were pretty adamant about keeping our men to ourselves," she said with a laugh.

Elliot chuckled, then furrowed his brow. "How? Why? I thought Cragen said we couldn't..."

Olivia interrupted him. "When I got back to the station this morning, he told me what happened. I got very upset, and he saw me reaching for my gun, to do the same thing you did, when he stopped me. And he explained this," she said, tapping on his badge. "He said that any good father would always do what he needs to do to keep his kids happy."

"Wow," Elliot gasped, his anger for the man being replaced with nothing but love. He kissed Olivia and said, "Speaking of happy kids, they're thrilled that you're home. They missed you almost as much as I did. You know how much they love you. All of them."

"I know," Olivia said, smiling as she kissed him. "Let's go, Sarge. We have a family to de-paint and a promotion to celebrate."

"Dinner, a movie, and then, baby, we have five days of celibacy to make up for," Elliot laughed, leading Olivia back into the house. "Oh, wait! Did Porter try anything?"

Olivia nodded. "I broke his nose and two of his ribs," she said with a smirk. Elliot kissed her, laughing.

"You think Cragen would come to dinner with us?" Elliot asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Call. Invite him," Olivia said, walking over to help the kids clean up the paint. Elliot smiled as he picked up the phone. Cragen would join them for dinner, and he'd bring a very interesting surprise.

**A/N: What does Cragen bring? Is it good? Bad? What changed Cragen's mind? Reviews are lovely, and I love you for reading and reviewing! **


	14. Homecoming

**A/N: Dinner with Cragen, and a movie with a frisky Elliot. A surprise awaits them, as someone's ready to come home. Elliot and Olivia make up for lost time, as someone else makes Porter pay.**

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue, and plot of this story.**

"Maybe he decided not to come," Olivia said, drinking her wine, sadly.

Elliot reached for her hand, and took it, caressing the side of it with his thumb. "He'll be here," he said softly. "Eat your salad, baby."

"Does this mean you'll be working longer hours, Dad?" Maureen asked, chomping on a breadstick.

"No, honey," Elliot said, drinking his beer. "It just means I have more responsibility and I can tell Liv what to do, now."

Olivia made a face, gave him a flat smile, and thwacked him in the arm.

"Ow!" he laughed. "I didn't say I would, baby! I just said that I could," he chuckled.

Lizzie laughed and said, "She wouldn't listen to you anyway."

"No," Cragen said, coming up behind her, "She wouldn't."

"Hey, Cap," Elliot said, rising to shake the man's hand.

Cragen returned the handshake, smiling. "Elliot, I, uh, I brought a friend. I hope that's okay." He turned to the door and waved at a beautiful blonde.

"That's...Donnelly," Olivia said as the woman stepped toward the table.

"Olivia, please," the blonde said, as she looped an arm around Cragen's waist, "Socially, call me Liz."

Elliot's eyes widened a little and he shook his head. "Wow, uh, when did this happen?"

Cragen gave Elliot an unsure smile. "A while ago," he said. "This is why I worked things out, albeit a bit secretively, for you and Olivia. I couldn't keep you two apart when I had someone trying to pull strings for me, myself."

"That's actually why we asked you to dinner," Olivia said, as Liz and Cragen sat down. "To thank you for…"

"Don't," Cragen said, interrupting. "Don't thank me. I did what I had to do. I couldn't lose either of you, you know that. Besides, if I did, I'd lose you both. That would have killed me," he said, his eyes meeting Olivia's. "We do need to lay down a few rules, though."

"We knew that was coming," Elliot said, taking a drink of his beer.

Cragen chuckled. "They should be clear already. I don't think we'll have a problem," he said. "Obviously, you can't, uh, act like a couple at work."

"Have we been acting like one so far?" Elliot asked, smugly.

Cragen shook his head. "Not that I've seen," he said, clearing his throat, "But I mean, uh, anywhere in the building. Don't even hold hands where someone, anyone, might see you. Also, technically, Elliot's your superior officer, Olivia. He's gonna be out on calls with you. If he does need to give you an order…"

"Yeah," Olivia said, nodding. "I know the drill."

"It wouldn't be an order," Elliot said. "It would be a partnerly suggestion, like it always has been. We listen to each other, Liv. You don't have to worry about that."

Cragen chuckled as he sipped his water and looked over at Donnelly. "Ya know, Elliot, when you told me that you couldn't do the job without her as your partner, I thought you were being dramatic." He pulled Donnelly's hand into his, then looked back at Elliot. "But when you said you couldn't live without her as your wife…"

Cragen was interrupted when Olivia began to choke, violently, on her salad. Dickie reached over and patted her on the back, sending a vicious glare at his father. Kathleen handed Olivia her glass of water, hoping to calm her down.

"What did I say?" Cragen asked.

Lizzie leaned over and whispered, "Dad hasn't exactly asked Liv to marry him, yet."

Cragen's eyes widened as he met Elliot's worried gaze.

* * *

The previews had just finished, the opening credits to the horrible-looking action movie that the kids had chosen were rolling, and Elliot needed to smooth things over with Olivia. "Liv," he whispered, leaning over to her. "Baby, listen. What Cragen said…"

"Shhh!" Olivia hushed sharply. "Watch the movie."

Elliot was quiet. For three seconds. "No, Liv, I didn't…I didn't want that to scare you," he whispered. "Are you that terrified? I mean, the word 'wife,' did it really make you that nervous?"

Olivia sighed and looked at him. "No. Now shut up," she spat.

"Then why did you almost need the Heimlich?" he asked, raising his eyebrow as he shoved his hand into their shared popcorn bucket.

"Because, El," Olivia said softly, "The man called me your wife. It was a shock. It's not scary, okay? For the first time in my life, the thought of getting married isn't scary. Now shut the hell up and watch the fucking movie, because with six tickets and all this junk food, we paid ninety bucks to see it!"

Elliot chuckled, kissed her quickly, and settled into his seat. He watched the opening scene, some attractive brunette she-cop walking down a dark alley, something blew up behind her, someone yelled something obscene, he wasn't really paying attention. His mind was on Olivia. He hadn't touched her in five days, and all throughout dinner he was looking into her eyes, getting more and more turned on by the beauty in them. He watched her lips curl into the smirks and smiles he loved so much, which only added to the built-up pressure. Now, she just told him that she wasn't afraid of, one day, making a real, lifetime commitment to him. That was the biggest turn-on ever. He smirked, moved the soda out of the cup holder between them, and lifted up the armrest. He wrapped an arm around Olivia and pulled her closer.

Olivia smiled, enjoying his cuddles, and rested her head on his shoulder. It wasn't until she felt his hand smoothing down and over her stomach, toying at the waistband of her jeans, that she gasped. "What the hell are you doing, Stabler?"

"Shh," he shushed. "Watch the movie, Benson," he teased.

Olivia's eyes widened when Elliot flicked open the button on her fly, and inched down the zipper quietly and carefully. "El, your children are…"

"Two rows in front of us with their Grandpa Don, completely engrossed in the death and destruction on the screen," Elliot finished. He slipped his hand between the denim of her jeans and the silk of her panties. He moaned softly into her ear and whispered, "God, baby, it's been too damn long. You want this as much as I do, huh?"

Nodding, Olivia bucked just slightly into his hand. She bit her lip and closed her eyes, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

"Uh-uh," he said, teasingly. "Watch the movie," he whispered, smirking. He applied more pressure, pulling her closer, as her head turned toward the screen and her eyes widened. "God, baby," he breathed into her neck, slipping his fingers under the silk. She left out a soft moan, and again, he shushed her. "Just cum for me, Liv. Watch the movie, be quiet, and cum for me, baby," he told her, kissing her cheek quickly before turning his own head toward the screen, avoiding suspicion in case anyone might be looking at them.

Olivia felt his magic fingers working. She wasn't sure where this was coming from, but it was exhilarating. Elliot was actually doing this, in a crowded movie theater, and she was letting him. At least she proved she wouldn't have a problem taking orders from him.

* * *

"Oh, my God! Did you see the guy jump off of the roof of the burning building?" Dickie asked as they left the theater.

Maureen replied, "It was killer! Or the part when Falcon bit Hammel and then he kissed her and she slapped him and said, 'Snap out of it, Hammel. You're my partner!"

"Dad, didn't you love it?" Kathleen asked, smiling at her father.

Elliot smirked at Olivia. "Oh, yeah. What I was watching was pretty darn incredible."

They drove home talking about the movie, and Elliot and Olivia had to pretend they'd actually watched it. When they arrived at their house, though, they got a bit of an unpleasant surprise. "Oh, my God," Elliot gasped, pulling into the driveway.

"What is she doing here?" Kathleen asked.

Maureen narrowed her eyes. "How did she even find out where we live?"

"Dad, do we have to get out of the car?" Lizzie asked, afraid.

"No," Elliot replied. "None of you are getting out of this car," he said, glaring at Olivia. "Stay with the kids, baby," he said, sternly. She just nodded, glaring back at him. She hated when he did this. He got out of the car and ran up the first two steps, stopping in front of her. "Kathy, what the fuck are you doing here?" he asked.

Kathy looked at him, smiled, and then threw her arms around him, kissing him feircly. Elliot, though, pushed her away quickly, shocked and appaled.

"What the hell was that for?" Elliot spat, wiping his mouth and backing up.

Kathy furrowed her brow, wondering why he didn't respond to her. "The doctor said I'm fine, now, Elliot. I'm clean. I'm sober. I'm ready to come home," she said. "Aren't you happy?"

"What?" Elliot yelled. "Kathy, no! You can't come…here. This is not your home."

"Of course it is," Kathy said with a smile. "With you and our children," she said. "It's home."

Elliot shook his head. "Kathy, we aren't married anymore. You don't have any parental claim to the kids. Are you…are you high?"

Kathy laughed. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "Elliot, I'm ready to come home. I'm ready to start over. Give me another chance. I can do this now. _We_ can do this now."

"Kathy," Elliot sighed, "Please, listen to me. I'm not going to give you a second chance. I'm not going to let you take a single step into my house. I'm very happy that you're feeling better, that's great, but you know that me and the kids are happy without you. I'm getting married, Kathy."

Kathy's face fell. "What?" she asked.

"Me and Liv, Kathy," Elliot said, smiling at the thought. "I'm gonna ask her to marry me, and she's gonna say yes," he said. "We bought this house together. How did you even know where we live?"

"I got a phone call," Kathy said. "From Dean. He said that you and Olivia had a fight, that she left you. That it would be a good time to…"

"He lied to you," Elliot said. "I'm sorry he did, but Liv and I are not fighting, at all. She's not leaving me, Kathy. Ever."

Kathy looked quite embarrassed. "Wow, uh, I feel rather foolish, Elliot. I never would have come here if I didn't think you were through with her."

"Yeah," Elliot said, a bit skeptically. "So, you should go now."

"Can I see the kids before I go?" Kathy asked, nervously.

Elliot looked back to the SUV, and through the window he could see Olivia keeping the kids calm. "They don't wanna see you, Kathy," he said, not looking at her. "Maybe, uh, maybe soon, though." He looked back at her, sighed, and said, "We can arrange something. Call my lawyer."

Kathy nodded. "Okay," she said, sadly. "Thank you. And, Elliot, I really am sorry. Dean told me…"

"I know what he told you, Kathy," Elliot said. "Go home."

Kathy nodded, looked sadly at the car and her kids, and turned and walked away. Elliot waved to Olivia, signaling it was safe for her and the kids to get out. She opened the door, as did the kids, and walked up to him. "What the hell was that about?" she asked, concerned.

"Porter," Elliot said, kissing her. "That fucking asshole."

Olivia furrowed her brow. "How did Porter have anything to do with…"

"He called her, Liv. He told Kathy we got into a huge fight," Elliot said. "He probably expected us to break up after you found out I quit, or he thought I'd choose the job over you."

Olivia shook her head, kissed him, and said, "He's an idiot."

"Yeah, he is," Elliot said, leading Olivia into the house. The kids ran to their rooms and Olivia and Elliot followed them up the stairs. They said goodnight, kissed the kids, and headed into their bedroom. Elliot stood at the end of the bed and watched as Olivia slipped out of her jeans and tossed her dress shirt over her head.

"What?" Olivia asked turning around. "Did you say something?"

Elliot blinked. He looked her in the eyes and realized he'd been thinking out loud. "I said, 'You're beautiful.'"

"Oh," Olivia said, smiling at him. "Thank you." She reached into a drawer and grabbed a pair of flannel pants, but Elliot's hands were on her hips in seconds.

"Don't bother," he snapped harshly, yanking the pants out of her hands. "I have missed you, so much," he whispered, trailing his fingers along her curves. He sent chills up her spine. "I know I've been acting like a crazy teenager since you got home, but damn, baby, I can't keep myself under control. I need you, Liv," he said, pressing his lips to her neck, her chest, her chin, and finally her lips. "Now," he added, pulling her to the bed.

As he shed his clothes and showered Olivia with passionate kisses and tender touches, a very angry Kathy walked into an upscale apartment building a few blocks away from the Stabler home. She took a short elevator ride, and stormed down the hall. She pounded on the door of apartment six-D and when it opened, she pushed her way inside, violently. "You son of a bitch," she yelled.

"Excuse me?" the man cried, stunned.

Kathy laughed, pulling something out of her purse. "You bastard. I made an ass out of myself, and almost hurt him, and his family, because of you."

"What are you…what are you doing?" the man asked, panicking.

"They're getting married, you prick," Kathy spat. "And unless you want to be the subject of their next investigation, you're going to listen to me, Dean!"

Dean swallowed, hard. "Okay, Kathy," he said. "Just put the gun down. What do you want me to do?"

**A/N: Wha? What does Kathy want from Dean? When will Elliot give Olivia the thing lurking in his sock drawer? What is up with Cragen and Donnelly? Review? Anyone? **


	15. Questioning

**A/N: A BIG thank you to all of the readers, reviewers and "favoriters," which is now a word. I LOVE YOU ALL! In this chapter, we find out what Kathy wants from dean, and will Elliot get up the nerve to ask Olivia that question…or will he be too busy questioning someone else?**

**DISCLAIMER: Dick Wolf owns SVU and its characters. TStabler© owns the narrative, dialogue, and plot of this story.**

"Dean," Kathy said, aiming the gun with a steady hand, "I want you to let it go."

Dean Porter looked at Kathy, his heands still raised. His gun was on the table, next to her, so there was no way he could get to it. If he moved, she'd shoot him. "Let what go, Kathy?" he asked, his eyes calm, steady. His training was kicking in and he was pushing back the fear of the gun.

"You _know_ what," Kathy spat, taking a step toward him. "If I have to let go of him, and my children, then you have to let her go. I won't have you making everyone's life miserable because you were second best to Elliot Stabler, yet again."

Dean's eyes narrowed, he dropped his hands, slowly. "Kathy, I can't let her go. I'm sorry. One way or another, she will be mine." He ducked as Kathy fired a round from her gun. It whizzed over his head and shattered a framed degree on the wall from a college that no longer existed. "Damn, Kathy! Think about this!" he yelled.

"I did think about it," Kathy spat back. "He's happy! She's happy! My kids are fucking happy, Dean! I'm not gonna rip that away from them, and I'm not gonna let you do it either," she promised, as she cocked the trigger again.

Dean calmly stepped toward her and placed his hand on the barrel of the gun. "We can talk about this Kathy," he said. "From one addict to another, you know it's not easy to quit, right? You know how hard it is. You crave it. You need it to survive. You hurt, physically hurt, without it."

Kathy lowered her arm, and tilted her head. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Olivia," Dean said, smirking, "Is like a drug, Kathy. you gotta understand what it's like for me. Tell me, what did you do when you couldn't get your hands on the good shit? When you needed a fix so badly, but the stuff you really wanted wasn't there?"

Kathy blinked. "I used whatever the hell I else I could find," she said, "A sub-drug, even though it wasn't as strong, it wasn't what I really needed, it did the job."

"Well, Kathy," Dean said, something wicked in his eyes, "Neither one of us has what we really want, what we really need, what we crave, huh?"

"Guess not," Kathy said. "Get to the point, Dean."

Dean grinned, his eyes lighting up just a little. "We can be each other's substitute. Think about it."

Kathy looked at him, tilted her head, and said, "Are you serious? You think we should..."

Dean pushed Kathy, suddenly, and grabbed the gun out of her hands, shocking her, and aimed it at her nose. "Rule number one in situations like this, Kathy. Never let your guard down."

* * *

"Hmmm," Olivia groaned, her phone ringing loudly. She groggily reached out a hand and answered it with a short, "Benson," which came out mumbled and garbled, since her mouth was pressed against Elliot's bare chest. He really did make the world's best pillow. She shot up as the voice on the other end told her something important. "Oh, God!" she cried, resting a hand on Elliot's chest and slapping him.

"I'm awake, baby, quit it," Elliot mumbled. "What happened?"

She held up hand, telling him she was still listening to the person on the phone. "Okay," she said. "We'll be right there. Stay calm. Don't do anything stupid!" She snapped her phone shut and jumped out of the bed, ignoring Elliot's question.

"Baby," Elliot called, sitting up, "What the hell happened?"

Olivia threw his pants at him, pulled on a pair of her own, and said, "It's Kathy. We have to go."

"Kathy?" Elliot asked, appalled, pulling on his shirt. "What the hell does she want?"

Olivia looked at him, clipped her badge to her hip, and said, "She just shot Dean Porter."

"What?" Elliot yelled. "She's really fucking out of her…"

"He tried to rape her, El," Olivia interrupted. "Why the fuck do you think she called me?"

Elliot's eyes widened as he grabbed his gun off of the bedside table. He and Olivia walked out, silently, only stopping to wake up Maureen and tell her where they were going. Elliot called Cragen from the car, since he really couldn't be involved in the investigation, and Olivia was driving faster than he'd ever seen her drive before.

"Liv, what else did she tell you? You're driving like...well...me!" Elliot exclaimed, holding on to the bar as they careened around a corner.

Olivia, narrow-eyed and pissed off, said, "She said she was still aiming her gun at him, and if we didn't get there in five minutes, she'd shoot him again. She's gonna kill him, El."

"No, she's not," Elliot assured her. "She wouldn't risk going back to that institution, or jail."

They pulled up to Dean's building, knowing Cragen, Fin and Munch were on their way, and they ran in through the revolving doors. They barreled up the steps and Olivia kicked in Dean's door with her gun trained instantly on Kathy. Elliot ran over to a crumpled Dean, who was trying to stop the blood from pouring out of his leg by tying his jacket around it. It was silent. They waited for something to happen. For someone to speak.

"What happened, Kathy?" Olivia asked, softly, easing her way into the room.

"He…he tried to…and I didn't want him to," Kathy babbled, her gun now aimed at Elliot, since he was crouching beside Dean. "His hands. They were everywhere. And he…" she squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed hard.

"Okay," Olivia said, gently. "It's okay, Kathy. Put the gun down. He's not gonna hurt you," she said, hoping she was getting through.

"You don't understand," Kathy said, cocking the trigger. "The whole time…he was calling me 'Olivia,' and I'm not gonna let another man pretend I'm you, Benson. I put up with it for five fucking years from Elliot." She raised her gun and her line of vision, now aiming at Elliot.

Olivia cocked her trigger. "Kathy, drop the gun," she warned.

Elliot got to his feet, looked Kathy in the eyes, and said, "Kathy, listen to me. You don't want to do this. You don't want to shoot me or Dean. Just put the gun down. He's already in cuffs, Kathy. We got him. No one's gonna..."

"Kathy, if you shoot either one of them, you'll never see your kids again. Dean isn't worth it," Olivia interrupted, taking another slow, cautious step toward Kathy. "You love Elliot too much to shoot him, to rip him away from your kids, don't you?"

Kathy was silent. She glared at Dean, then her eyes moved to Elliot's. "You're right," she said, her face breaking into a smirk. "It's not Dean or Elliot I want to shoot. They've just reminded me that I'll never be you." She moved, quickly, and fired at Olivia, but not before Olivia, who had brilliant reflexes, moved and fired at her. Kathy was hurled back into the wall, Olivia turned to see where the misfired bullet went, and she chuckled. It hit a framed photo of Olivia and Dean that had been hanging on the wall behind her.

Cragen and Munch ran in, then, with weapons drawn, and they blinked rapidly, trying to process the scene. "What happened here?" Cragen asked, watching Olivia holster her gun and run toward Kathy.

"I have no fucking idea," Elliot spat, pulling Dean to his feet. "But I know that my heart just stopped, and my life is now ten years shorter."

Munch chuckled as he looked around. "She shot at Olivia?" he asked, guessing.

Elliot nodded, then looked at Dean. "What did you now, asshole?" he asked, seething.

Olivia pulled Kathy to her feet, trying to apply pressure to the fresh bullet wound in Kathy's upper arm. "We'll find out," she said. "Kathy is gonna tell Munch and Fin everything, isn't she?"

Kathy glared at Olivia, then shot an evil look at Dean. "Yeah," Kathy spat. "Whatever."

Olivia pushed Kathy toward Cragen, and he took her by the cuffs as Munch took custody of a limping Dean. Olivia and Elliot watched the group walk out of Dean's apartment and down the hall. Elliot's eyes landed on the photo on the wall. He stepped toward it, cocking his head to the side. "Liv," he said, waving her over. "When were you on a boat with Dean? You never told me anything about..."

"I wasn't," Olivia interjected, narrowing her eyes. "We should go. We have to give our statements and…"

"That fucker! He put his head on my body," Elliot said, picking the broken glass out of the frame to see the picture more clearly. "Liv, this was taken when you came on that fishing trip with me and Dickie, for his Boy Scouts troop, since Kathy couldn't…wouldn't."

"Jesus," Olivia said, realizing that Elliot was right. "Where did he even get that picture in the first place?"

Elliot reached up and took the frame off of the wall. "I want to come back in here with a warrant, Liv. I think he's been stalking you," he said, turning over his shoulder. "Not a lot we can do about it, but adding the charge to sexual assault couldn't hurt. It would keep him away from us for…"

"El," Olivia said, picking up another frame, with another picture, "Let's just get out of here." She slammed the photo down and walked out of the apartment. Elliot, curious, walked over to the frame and lifted it, turning it over to see the picture. "Son of a bitch," he muttered, running after Olivia. He had the photo of her and her mother clutched tightly in his hands.

* * *

"Tell us what happened," Fin said, leaning over the table to look at Kathy.

Kathy blinked, sighed, and said, "He thought that…he wanted me to be her, and I couldn't. I couldn't stand having someone else want me to be her. You don't think I know that Elliot would close his eyes and see her face every night, no matter what I did? You think I don't realize he fell in love with her the moment he met her? I really lost my husband and my kids five years ago, and then to have another man tell me he wants me to be her, too? I snapped. I shot Dean in self-defense, you have to believe that, but when I aimed at Olivia…" she paused, took a breath, and closed her eyes. "It was because I wanted her gone."

In the next room, Elliot sneered over at Dean, leaning close to him. His leg was in a cast, and his face was swollen, but he was gonna talk, whether he wanted to or not. "SO, Porter," Elliot said through gritted teeth. "Aside from sexually assaulting Kathy, what have you been doing to my…partner?" he asked, tossing three photos in front of him.

"We had some great times," Porter said. "The Black and White ball," he said, holding up a picture, "Was amazing. She looked like Ginger Rodgers that night. That dress was stunning."

"I know it was," Elliot said, tossing the original photo down on the table, "Because I went with her." Elliot cracked his knuckles, rolled his neck, grabbed Dean by the throat, and said, "You have three seconds to tell me, exactly, how and why you have all of these pictures of me, Liv, and her mother."

Cragen's head snapped up at that moment, his attention drawn to the two-way-mirror where he knew Olivia was watching. He also knew that Elliot was about to kill Porter, and he had half a mind to let him do it. Then he thought of Olivia. "Elliot!" he barked, his eyes never moving from where he knew Olivia's were. "You're done here, Stabler. Go. I'll take the rest of his statement. Now, Stabler!"

"Cap," Elliot said, not taking his eyes off of Dean's, "I have to finish this."

Cragen put a hand on his shoulder, leaned in, and whispered, "Olivia needs you, Elliot."

Elliot let go of Dean, dropping him back into the chair. He walked out of the interrogation room, into the pit, and as soon as he saw her, he gently pulled Olivia into his arms. "I love you," he whispered, brushing her hair back.

"I love you, too," Olivia said, holding him tighter than she'd meant to. "Are you okay?" she asked, feeling his grip on her tighten as well.

"Fine, baby. Tomorrow night," Elliot said, looking down at her, "We're going out. Just you and me, Liv. To forget about all this shit."

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she asked, smirking. Her eyebrow rose. "Like, a date?"

Elliot chuckled. "You make it sound like we're in high school, Liv. But yes, like a date. We've gone on them before."

"Yeah, we have," Olivia laughed. "Where?"

"I don't know, Liv," Elliot said, honestly. "Someplace nice. Someplace expensive. Someplace that…requires me to go home and look through my sock drawer."

Olivia tilted her head and asked, "You need to find special socks for tomorrow night?"

Elliot laughed, shook his head, and said, "Something like that." He smirked, kissed her forehead, and walked out of the pit, leaving Olivia to contemplate why on Earth he'd need to go through his sock drawer.

**A/N: Next chapter, we're back to the primary focus of Elliot and Olivia's fluffy love, and need for each other! If you want it, that is…?**


	16. Proposing

**A/N: The moment of truth. Does she say yes? Does she run? Does she do both? Neither? **

**DISCLAIMER: SVU and characters belong to Dick Wolf and Wolf Films. This story, and everything included, belongs to TStabler©**

"Ow," Olivia muttered unenthusiastically as Elliot bit her neck lightly.

Elliot chuckled and bit her again.

"Ow," Olivia repeated, chuckling herself. "If you wanna go to dinner sometime tonight, Stabler, stop biting me and let me take my shower."

"I'll just keep biting you in the shower, ya know," Elliot mumbled against her skin.

"Who said you were coming in there with me?" Olivia asked, catching his reflection in the mirror.

Elliot bit her neck a bit harder, making her moan, and he said, "I think you just did."

"Bastard," she muttered. She slid the shower door open and stepped into the scalding, running water, with Elliot still attached to her neck. As her back hit the cold, wet tiles, Elliot's teeth sunk in deeper and a low, throaty moan escaped Olivia's lips.

Elliot, suckling on her neck now, reached up onto the shelf and grabbed her body wash, and without looking, flicked the cap open and squeezed, dripping the cold gel onto and down her chest. She gasped as the purple soap hit her body, and Elliot chuckled. He put the bottle back on the rack and began working the strategically placed soap into a lather, caressing her breasts and her aggravated nipples. He ran his hands lower as his lips moved up her neck to her chin, then her lips. He rubbed the soap down her toned stomach, over her hips, across her thighs, finally bringing a lavender-scented hand between her legs, where his rubbing became hard.

Olivia moaned into his mouth and he chuckled again, pressing his body further into hers. She ran her hands up his back, scraping lightly, and when he moaned she felt him twitch against he thigh. It was her turn to chuckle. She moved her hands down, around to his waist, and began giving him long, slick strokes.

"God, baby," he mumbled against her lips. "That feels so, so good," he whispered, "But I want more." He moved his hand, causing her to whimper, then he spun them around to rinse their soapy bodies under the hot spray. He moved her hands off of his shaft, and he backed her into the other shower wall. He smirked at her as he lifted her left leg and slowly pushed into her, and he whispered to her, "I love you, so much, Olivia."

A soft groan from her told him he was hitting the right spots, and she forced herself to open her eyes and look into his. "I love you, Elliot."

Elliot moved deep and hard within her, thrusting as the water hit his back, as she gripped onto his arms and peppered his chest with light kisses. He was on fire. He leaned in and kissed her, then peering into her eyes, he asked, "For how long, Liv? How long are you gonna love me?"

Olivia rolled her hips as Elliot thrust, and he growled her name. She pulled him tightly to her and whispered, right into his ear, "Forever, El."

Elliot smiled as he hit into his lover. He was hoping she'd say that.

* * *

Shaking like a leaf, Elliot held the door to the restaurant open for Olivia. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous. She was gonna say yes, wasn't she? Hadn't she just told him that in the shower? Still, he knew Olivia, and he knew that she might run the second she saw the ring, which he'd finally dug out of his sock drawer. He led her to a table, set with candles and champagne, and pulled out her chair for her.

Olivia gave him a skeptical smirk and raised her eyebrow. "Okay, what gives? You're never this..."

"Gentlemanly? I know," Elliot said with a smirk of his own. "Tonight's special, Liv."

"Okay," Olivia laughed. "Special enough to merit champagne?"

Elliot nodded. "Oh, yeah," he said, popping the cork. He poured two glasses and handed one to Olivia. He held it up, she did, too, and they clinked.

"Uh, to what did we just toast?" Olivia asked with a chuckle. "You didn't say anything."

"To us, baby," Elliot said, with a nervous smile. "Just you and me," he added, swigging the bubbly drink.

Olivia gave him an odd look, getting nervous herself, and looked around. "El, honey, is there something wrong?"

"Uh, no," Elliot said, wiping his brow. "Is it hot in here? I'm kinda hot," he muttered.

"El, you're scaring me," Olivia said, putting her glass down.

Elliot scoffed. "I'm scaring myself," he said, scooting his chair closer to hers. "You know what you want?"

"Um, yeah," Olivia said, still looking at Elliot. "What's wrong with you?"

Elliot gave her hand a squeeze and shook his head. "Nothing, baby, I swear. What are you, uh, what do you want?"

Olivia chuckled. "Salmon. And you?"

"I know what I want, but I'm, uh, gonna try to wait till after we eat to get it," he said, running his thumb up the side of her hand.

"Are you already thinking about cake?" Olivia quipped.

"Maybe," Elliot said, smirking at her, "And maybe not."

Olivia laughed and scooted her chair closer. "El," she whispered, "Is there a reason you're a nervous wreck right now?"

"I'm not nervous," he spat, drinking the rest of his champagne.

"El, I know you. I know you better than I know myself," Olivia said. "Are you...you're not breaking up with me, or..."

"What?" Elliot spat harshly. "No! No way," he cried. "Actually, it's the complete opposite," he said, softer, with a hopeful lilt in his voice.

The waiter walked over and greeted them, asking if he could take their order. Elliot told the server what he wanted, and gave him Olivia's order as well, then turned back to Olivia. She was looking at him, her eyes sparkling. She was begging to be kissed, he thought, so he kissed her. He sighed into the kiss, looping his arms around her. "Baby," he said, "You're right. I'm nervous."

"Really?" Olivia asked, smiling. "I couldn't tell." She brushed his hair back and scratched the nape of his neck lightly. "Why, baby?"

"Because I know you. I know you better than I know myself," he said, parroting her words back to her. "And when I give you this," he said, pulling a red, velvet box out of his pocket, "You're going to freak out and run away."

Olivia's eyes widened. Her mouth dropped.

"Liv, as long as I've know you, you've been more than a partner, more than a friend. I'm not proud of how we got together, but I'm not sorry. Not one bit, and I would do it all over again. Liv," he said, flipping open the box. "You are all I will ever need, Olivia Benson. You're all I want, all I need, for the rest of my life. I'm so lucky to have you, baby, and I'm happy. Liv, I haven't stopped smiling since that night in the cribs. What I'm saying is, or what I'm asking, rather, is will you make me the happiest, luckiest man in the entire world? Will you marry me?"

Olivia looked at the ring, sparkling in the box, then back up to his eyes, sparkling the brightest blue she'd ever seen. She took a deep breath, hoping to restart her heart, and she felt the tears sliding down her cheeks. She thought about how the last time she'd said yes, it was to protect Elliot, to make him happy, to keep his family whole and safe. She thought, with a smile, that she'd be doing the same thing if she said yes this time. She pulled him toward her and kissed him, with everything she had. She didn't run. "Yes," she said, "Yes, yes, yes!"

Elliot laughed and his own tears fell as he kissed her, powerfully and through tears and chuckles. It wasn't until the waiter came with their food that they even realized the people surrounding them had been cheering and clapping. They'd been watched. They'd been seen. Someone watching, though, was definitely not happy.

**A/N: Who? Trevor, Kathy and Dean are in jail. Hmmm. Reviews!?**


	17. Confronting

**A/N: Who was it that saw them and wasn't happy? Who's trying to worm their way back into their lives? Who's gonna get told off…by a twelve year old? **

**DISCLAIMER: SVU and characters belong to Dick Wolf and Wolf Films. This story, and everything included, belongs to TStabler©**

Olivia and Elliot had been so lost in each other, laughing, kissing, looking into each other's eyes, that they hardly noticed someone following them home from the restaurant. They were almost home, halfway up the steps, when Elliot stopped. He pulled Olivia down and into his arms, the heel of her shoe causing her to stumble. He caught her with a chuckle, and looked into her eyes.

"Sorry about that," he said, brushing her hair back. "You're really gonna marry me, right? You're not gonna change your mind, or run, or try to shoot me?"

Olivia snickered. "El," she said, looking back at him, here brown eyes dancing with his sapphire ones, "I'd only shoot you if you hurt me or the kids. I'm not gonna run, not from you. In fact, the last time I ran from a relationship it was_ to_ you. I'm not going to change my mind, baby. I'm really going to marry you." She rubbed her nose against his, ignoring the searing pain in her foot that the damn heel dragging against the stair had caused, and caught his lips in a tender, emotional, kiss.

"If you do that," a female voice said from the pavement before them, "You'd be making a very big mistake, Detective Benson."

Elliot and Olivia broke apart, and turned to the woman. Elliot's eyes widened and then narrowed. His heart breaking only slightly. "Val," he said, almost a gasp. "What are you doing here?"

"I was on a date, Elliot. I had no idea I'd be witnessing my big brother throwing his life away! Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Valerie, Elliot's younger sister, asked, putting her hands on her hips.

Elliot didn't loosen his grip on Olivia. He pulled her closer and said, "I know exactly what I'm doing, Val. You know, you can't just walk back into my life and…"

"Aunt Val?" Dickie asked, opening the front door.

"Dickie," Olivia said, turning around. "Go back inside, sweetie. It's late, it's cold, and it's…"

Dickie stepped out, further, ignoring Olivia, and interrupted her. "No, Mom," he said.

"Woah," Valerie said, taken aback. "Mom?"

"Yeah, Aunt Val. Mom. You weren't around to watch her be the one who took care of us when _Kathy_ refused to. See, she was the one who came to all of our games and she was the one that held us if we cried or were hurt or just needed to be held. Did you know that Kathy burned down our house? That she was on drugs? Did you know she used to hit Maureen? That she hated me because I looked so much like Dad?" Dickie took another step down and folded his arms, narrowing his eyes, proving that he did, in fact, look exactly like Elliot. "Aunt Val, Mom, Olivia, and this is something Dad doesn't even know, almost died last year. She got shot for him, because of him. He was here, arguing with Kathy, and she went after some lunatic who had a grudge against Dad. He had threatened to come after us, and, well, she just wasn't gonna let that happen. She took him down but not before he got a good shot in."

Elliot looked at Olivia, stunned, and asked, "That's what happened? You told me it was…"

"I know what I told you," Olivia said, biting her lip.

Elliot closed his eyes, dropping his forehead to hers. "Baby," he whispered, his grip on her tightening. "God, baby."

"Dickie," Valerie said. "Are you telling me, really telling me, that your father being with her rather than your mother…"

"Olivia is my mother," Dickie broke in. "Go look up the definition of the word 'mother,' Aunt Val. She may not have given birth to me, which is why she's still got that killer body, but in every other sense of the word she is our mother. And, if you couldn't tell, Dad's nuts about her."

Valerie's eyes drifted from the boy to her brother. "But…Catholic…sin…divorce," she sputtered, unable to put together a sentence that made sense.

"God understands, Aunt Val," Dickie said, sounding more like a grown up than a boy who'd be only thirteen in a week. "Kathy went cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, and God gave us Olivia to save us. She wasn't a temptation, or a sin, Aunt Val. She was a Saving Grace. An Angel. How could God be mad at Dad for accepting the gift He so willingly and generously gave?"

Elliot, tears slowly running down his cheeks, sniffled as he looked at his son. "When the hell did you grow up?"

"When _you_ did," Dickie said, giving his father a signature Stabler smirk.

Valerie sniffled as well, unaware that she'd even been crying. "I can not believe I have just been put in my place by a twelve year old."

"Thirteen," Olivia said, wiping her eyes as he pulled her soon-to-be-step-son into her arms.

Dickie returned the hug eagerly and said, "I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too, Dickie," Olivia whispered. It wasn't that she didn't want to shout it out loud, her voice just wasn't cooperating.

Kathleen, in her pajamas and a pair of fuzzy slippers that Olivia immediately recognized as her own, stepped out into the New York night, rubbing her eyes and yawning. "What is going on out…Aunt Val? Did someone die?"

"No, honey," Elliot said, chuckling at the look of horror plastered on his daughter's face, and the smirk on Olivia's. Those were her favorite bunny slippers. He gave them to her as a gag gift on Easter, three years ago, knowing she wasn't Catholic, and she adored them, to his surprise.

"Why is Aunt Val here, and why is everyone crying?" Kathleen asked, folding her arms. Apparently, it was a Stabler thing.

Olivia tilted her head. "Dickie is too grown up for his own good, and he just said something really…nice," she said, still sniffling. "And Val was just leaving. She just came by to congratulate us."

"On what?" Kathleen asked, suddenly perking up, looking hopeful.

Dickie, realizing what had just happened, looked at Olivia's left hand and smiled. He turned around to his sister and said, "Dad gave her that thing that was in his sock drawer!"

Kathleen squealed, jumped and clapped. "Oh, my God! Really?" she yelped. "That's totally…sweet!"

Olivia chuckled, resting her head on Elliot's shoulder as she felt Dickie wrap his arms around her again. "Hey, Katie, it is totally sweet," she said. "And my first act as your stepmother is reclaiming my bunnies!"

Kathleen looked down at her feet guiltily, then looked up and simpered at Olivia. "Goodnight, Mom! 'Night, Daddy!" she screeched, then bolted back inside.

"I'm sorry," Valerie said, chuckling herself. "I guess I really didn't know what was going in your life, Elliot. You don't really call any of us, and at Christmas you all seemed so normal."

Elliot looked at his sister as his left hand ran itself through Olivia's hair. "Val, we were putting on a show, trying to keep it together for the sake of the kids. We weren't gonna air our dirty laundry in front of the whole family."

Valerie nodded, and looked her brother in the eyes. "Don't keep things like this from your family, Elliot. I mean, you know we'd like Olivia more than we liked Kathy! We just didn't know the…how you two happened. We were all very concerned for your…"

"Soul?" Elliot questioned. "I know. Charlie's a priest," he said, nodding. "He probably thought this was some kind of affair, huh?"

Valerie nodded.

Elliot smirked. He didn't plan on confessing all of his sins. Especially not to his brother. "Goodnight, Val," he said, still smirking, as he led Olivia and Dickie into the house.

Valerie sighed, watching them go, as she slowly walked away from the building. She could, at least, ease her family's concern. They all knew, deep down, that Olivia was best for Elliot and the kids. She also knew, deep down, that something had started before things with Kathy had ended. Charlie didn't need to know that, though.

* * *

Olivia walked into the bullpen, surprised she could walk at all after the way Elliot had ravaged her the night before, his way of celebrating their engagement, and headed straight for the coffee pot. She had just picked it up when she head a clearing throat behind her.

"That shit'll kill you," the voice said.

She turned, and stood face-to-face with Ed Tucker, king of the Rat Squad. IAB's leader stared at her and reached for her hand, looking down at the ring. "Nice," he said. His free hand held out a cup of coffee to her.

"Thanks," Olivia said, confused, referring both to the compliment and the beverage. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Tucker grinned smugly. "Your partner-slash-fiancée is in the captain's office. We were all having a nice chat. Didn't you wonder why he left early? Without you?"

"Not really," Olivia said, sipping the surprisingly good coffee, "No."

"You thought I was on your ass before," Tucker said, glaring at her, "Well now I'm your worst case of Hemorrhoids, Benson. You two just got into a big pile of shit, and your damn lucky your captain knew how to dig you out."

Olivia furrowed her brow. "What are you talking about, Tucker?"

"We were fine with the dating, but this," Tucker spat, holding up her bejeweled hand, "If this goes wrong, or gets in the way, Benson, if this causes any problems, one of you is out. And we both know who it's gonna be."

Olivia set her coffe down and looked at Tucker, endearingly. "It won't…"

"I know," Tucker said, his smugness fading, replaced by, was it warmth? "I know that, Olivia. I've always known that. It's my job to warn you, though. I have to do my job, do you understand that? I can't get personal, I never could. That's the difference between me and Stabler, Benson."

"I'm not quite following you, Tucker," Olivia said, sighing. "Elliot's always done his job, and you…"

"Olivia," Tucker said, using her first name, for the first time, her hand still held in his, "He had the balls to get personal. I never did. He had the guts to throw the damn rule book out the fucking window and go after what he want…what he needed, despite the fact that it could cost him his family, and his job. I could never be that guy, Olivia."

"Is that why you hate him?" Olivia asked, furrowing her brow. "Because he has a selfish streak?"

Tucker chuckled, and it was then that Olivia felt him stoking the side of her hand with his thumb, and she gasped, realizing what he was saying to her. "No, Olivia. I hate him, because what he wanted, what he needed, what he had the balls to go after, and get, was the same fucking thing that I could never bring myself to even consider asking for." He looked into her eyes, a sad happiness glinting in his. "I know you love him, Benson. I know you're happy with him. If he fucks this up, if he hurts you, if he screws with you and damages you in any way, not only is he out on his ass, but I'll fucking kill him," he said, clenching his jaw and clearing his throat.

"I won't," Elliot said, standing behind him with a confused tone in his voice. "I would never…"

"Like I said," Tucker interrupted, turning around with a sigh, "I know that. I'm just…doing my job." He shook Elliot's hand, a silent succession to the winner of a fight that was never really fought, and he walked out of the squadroom.

"What the hell was that all about?" Elliot asked, looking at the dumbfounded, slightly amused, expression on Olivia's face.

Olivia picked up her coffee, pausing to look at it before it reached her lips. "Uh, I think Tucker just told me he was in love with me." She sipped, now knowing that the years of hatred and tension were caused by his jealousy and unrequited love. "He hates you because I love you."

Elliot folded his arms and smirked. "And here I thought he hated me because I'm bigger, stronger, smarter, better looking…"

"And clearly more humble," Olivia chuckled.

"Oh, clearly," Elliot said, screwing up his face and nodding. "So, it seems, everyone knows about us now. Cragen thought he needed to do damage control," he said, moving closer to Olivia. "Not that I'm about to start throwing you up against the precinct wall just because we don't have to sneak around, but a kiss now and then would…"

"No," Olivia chuckled, shaking her head. "At work, El, this is just a partnership. You heard Tucker. He has no problem nailing our asses to the wall if we can't…"

"You have the will power of a Goddess, don't you?" Elliot asked, cutting her off.

"Are you kidding?" Olivia joked. "This is gonna be ridiculously difficult. But, El, just think about what it's gonna be like when we get home." She winked at him, sipped her coffee, and headed to her desk.

Elliot sighed, smiled, and followed her to their corner of the squadroom. They waited patiently for their day to begin, knowing that as long as they had each other, they had all they would ever need.

**A/N: Fini! Fini? Perhaps. Reviews will let me know if it's not… **


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